Pope Leo XIV's first visit to Spain since his election is already dominating Madrid, with posters, bus adverts and metro screens bearing his image. The US pontiff will arrive on Saturday and say mass on Sunday at a stage in Plaza de Cibeles, expected to draw up to one million worshippers. The visit, the first papal trip since Benedict XVI in 2011, comes as Spanish Catholicism declines: 56.1% of Spaniards now identify as Catholic, down from 71.7% in 2011, though youth identification has risen to 45%.
The seven-day itinerary includes Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands, with meetings with King Felipe, Queen Letizia and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. The pope will also visit homeless people, migrants and volunteers, and on Thursday will travel to the port of Arguineguín in Gran Canaria to speak with migrants who risked the Atlantic route. At least 1,172 people died on that route last year.
Leo's focus on migration aligns him with Sánchez, whose socialist government has defended migration's economic and social benefits and is regularising at least 500,000 undocumented migrants. After a Vatican meeting last month, Sánchez called the pope a “moral compass in the fight against injustice”. The pope has criticised the Trump administration for its treatment of foreigners, calling it “extremely disrespectful”.
The visit is a political boost for Sánchez, whose party is mired in corruption allegations. The far-right Vox party opposes the regularisation programme; its leader Santiago Abascal has criticised bishops for supporting it, claiming illegal immigration harms Spaniards' healthcare, safety and salaries. The visit highlights Spain's polarised politics, with issues like housing, immigration and corruption creating a febrile mood.
