Spain’s Felipe VI and Queen Letizia (2R), Princess Leonor (L) and Princess Sofia (R) welcome Pope Leo XIV (C) on the Royal Palace in Madrid on June 6, 2026. Pope Leo XIV is visiting Spain on June 6-12 with stops in Madrid, Barcelona, and the Canary Islands, the place he’ll meet with migrants and organizations devoted to serving to them.
Stefano Rellandini | Afp | Getty Pictures
Pope Leo on Saturday urged international leaders to cease dividing their electorates with “sterile simplifications,” calling on them to hearken to the world’s cries for peace as he met migrants and a few 600,000 younger individuals initially of a week-long tour of Spain.
Leo, who has angered U.S. President Donald Trump by criticizing his anti-immigration insurance policies and the battle in Iran, visited a Church-run shelter for the homeless in Madrid and can meet migrants within the Canary Islands in the course of the five-stop go to.
He stated, earlier than touching down in Spain, that he hoped the tour would set an instance for the world in respecting “each human being.”
“Immediately, the temptation to realize reputation by fanning the flames of polarization appears to have grown moderately than diminished, and human dignity continues to be violated,” Leo stated in a speech earlier than King Felipe VI on the Royal Palace in Madrid.
“I invite everybody to put aside the divisive and polarizing narratives of your societal actuality and historical past, in order to beat sterile simplifications by the fruitful appreciation of complexity,” he added.
Know-how was partly guilty for creating an surroundings that magnifies prejudices and weakens essential considering, Leo stated.
He drew on Spain’s historical past for instance of peaceable coexistence amongst religions and cultures, citing how Christians, Muslims and Jews cooperated throughout medieval occasions to advance human information by translating Arabic texts into Latin, Spanish and Hebrew on the College of Translators in Toledo.
“Your personal historical past suggests {that a} tradition of encounter, not confrontation, is what fosters stability and prosperity,” he stated.
Big crowds anticipated
A whole bunch of hundreds lined the streets of central Madrid to witness the primary go to to Spain by a pope since 2011.
Some waved Vatican and Spanish flags or held up infants to be blessed as Leo toured in an open-air popemobile from which he was seen once more doing the “6-7” hand gesture fashionable amongst younger individuals.
Pope Leo XIV speaks with the trustworthy throughout his go to to Caritas charity’s heart for homeless individuals “Cedia 24 horas” in Lucero neighborhood in Madrid, on June 6, 2026. Pope Leo XIV is visiting Spain June 6-12 with stops in Madrid, Barcelona, and the Canary Islands, the place he’ll meet with migrants and organizations devoted to serving to them.
Stefano Rellandini | Afp | Getty Pictures
A 2025 survey by Fundacion SM discovered a surge in curiosity in Catholicism amongst younger individuals in Spain, with 28.8% declaring themselves training Catholics in 2025, up from 17.6% in 2020.
“Once I see the pope doing the ‘6-7’, it feels acquainted. I feel there will probably be increasingly Catholics due to him,” stated Perla Garcia, 15, as she waited for Leo to attend a vigil.
Within the afternoon, Leo visited a homeless shelter the place he heard the tales of migrants who had been helped to settle once they first arrived in Madrid.
In sharp distinction to many main Western powers, not least Trump’s United States, Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s authorities has opened a mass amnesty program, permitting an estimated 500,000 immigrants to use for authorized standing.
Senegalese migrant Khadry, who gave the pope a reproduction of his Spanish residency card, described feeling misplaced and alone when he first arrived in Spain.
“I had left all the things behind and did not know the place to start out. Immediately I’ve a job, I’ve sorted out my immigration standing, and I wish to assist others who arrive right here simply as I did,” he stated.
Competing with Unhealthy Bunny
The pope’s go to to the Spanish capital coincided with concert events by Puerto Rican singer Unhealthy Bunny, and native church officers have indicated a gathering between the 2 is feasible whereas the pope is in Madrid.
As Unhealthy Bunny was acting at soccer membership Atletico Madrid’s Metropolitano stadium, the pope was presiding over a vigil with about 600,000 younger individuals exterior the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, house to bitter rival Actual Madrid.
“Within the face of the vacancy of indifference and compliance, earlier than the violence of battle and lies, you have to be the sparks of a brand new humanity,” he advised the gathering.
Pope Leo XIV arrives to go to Caritas charity’s heart for homeless individuals “Cedia 24 horas” in Lucero neighborhood in Madrid, on June 6, 2026. Pope Leo XIV is visiting Spain on June 6-12 with stops in Madrid, Barcelona, and the Canary Islands, the place he’ll meet with migrants and organizations devoted to serving to them.
Stefano Rellandini | Afp | Getty Pictures
Leo joked on his flight from Rome that he was competing with Unhealthy Bunny for younger individuals’s consideration.
“In the event that they have been confronted with the query: do they wish to see Unhealthy Bunny or do they wish to see the pope, I feel many will go to see Unhealthy Bunny,” he stated, earlier than including: “However I feel there will even be a couple of right here to see the pope.”
Leo is scheduled to provide greater than 20 speeches throughout his first journey to a European Union nation exterior Italy, and would be the first pope to handle the Spanish parliament.
Throughout his June 6-12 journey, the primary U.S. head of the Catholic Church will even inaugurate a brand new tower in Barcelona’s famed Sagrada Familia basilica and can meet survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, the Vatican stated, including that additional particulars will probably be supplied after the assembly.
Some victims complained they have been excluded from the assembly. They referred to as for Leo to hearken to them in a “actually inclusive” method and for reparations to incorporate authorized recognition for victims, lifelong psychological care and enough compensation.
“We do not need a picture with the pope: we wish rights and reparations for all of the victims,” a collective of teams representing victims stated in an announcement.
A 2023 report by Spain’s human rights ombudsman estimated a whole lot of hundreds of victims of clergy abuse there over a long time, echoing comparable scandals which have shaken the Church internationally.
