Pope Leon XIV's visit to Spain hailed as a success after drawing huge crowds and delivering a political call to overcome polarization

A trip that exceeded expectations

Pope Leon XIV returned to Rome on Friday after a week-long visit to Spain that the Vatican is already calling a success, despite a technical fault on the Iberia aircraft that stranded the papal entourage for several hours at Tenerife Norte airport and forced the cancellation of the in-flight press conference. Officials travelling with the pontiff said the reception surpassed all forecasts. "The welcome given to the Pope exceeded our expectations. The streets were full and the ceremonies were organised with great care," Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See's secretary for Relations with States, told reporters on board before the breakdown was announced.

A political call wrapped in pastoral language

From his first major address at the Royal Palace on 6 June, the Pope laid out a framework that went far beyond the spiritual. He urged Spain to "abandon divisive and polarising narratives" and to "move from sterile simplifications to a fruitful appreciation of complexity." The message was amplified two days later inside the Congress of Deputies, where he told lawmakers that "wherever a person is discriminated against because of their national, ethnic, religious or linguistic origin, or because of their economic or social condition, the universal principle of the equal dignity of all human beings is gravely violated." Conservative politicians in the audience told El País that the Pope had "pulled us up short," especially on immigration. The reference to "national priority" agreements recently signed by the People's Party and Vox in three regions was unmistakable, and one PP official admitted that "after hearing the Pope in Congress, we all had some reason to hide a little under our seats."

Catalonia, the language dispute that never was

A week before the Pope's arrival, a row erupted over the liturgical language planned for the Sagrada Família ceremony. Organisers had announced that the Pope would use Spanish, prompting protests in Catalonia. The local bishops and Vatican diplomats moved quickly. In the end, observers noted that this was "the Pope who has spoken the most Catalan ever." The president of the Catalan parliament, Josep Rull, who was in contact with the bishops during the crisis, praised the outcome. The two days in Catalonia passed under radiant sunshine and with none of the political storms that many had feared.

The abuse scandal stays in the background

The clerical sexual abuse crisis, described by one victim as "a still-open wound," was not on the official agenda but forced its way into the trip. Before landing, the Pope told El País he would meet victims, though it was "impossible to receive everyone." He addressed the issue with the bishops, but without using the word "paedophilia" and without criticising the cover-ups. Victims' associations remain dissatisfied. The Spanish bishops' conference considers the matter resolved, but the pontiff gave no indication of how he intends to act on the 440,000 adults estimated to have suffered abuse in religious settings in Spain.

A global strategy taking shape

The Spain trip is seen as the first step in a broader programme. Leon XIV will skip the 250th anniversary of the United States on 4 July and instead travel to Lampedusa, the symbol of Mediterranean migration. A visit to France is scheduled for September, followed by a tour of Peru, Argentina and Uruguay at the end of the year. The Pope's bet on Europe as a counterweight to identitarian populism is now explicit, and his words in Madrid and Barcelona were as much a message to the continent's political class as to the Spanish faithful.

No one can kneel before the Lord and despise their brother.