MAIN EVENTS

POPE LEO XIV IN BARCELONA: “SPREADING SOLIDARITY BEYOND POLARISATION”

Print

Barcelona  ||  | 09 June 2026
Iniziative (EN) - Maison de la Paix (EN)

Pope Leo XIV spent two days in Barcelona, from 9 to 11 June. The first day was devoted to the Midday Prayer, followed by the Pope’s address during the prayer vigil at the Olympic Stadium. The following day (10 June) he visited the Brians 1 prison and recited the Rosary at the Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat, a Benedictine monastic complex some 50 km from Barcelona, which houses the statue of Our Lady of Montserrat, also known as ‘La Moreneta’, proclaimed patron saint of Catalonia in 1881 by Pope Leo XIII. This was followed by a meeting with representatives of the diocesan charitable and welfare organisations at the Church of Sant Agustí and Mass celebrated at the Sagrada Família (on the day marking the 100th anniversary of the death of Antoni Gaudí), with the inauguration of the Tower of Jesus Christ. 
“I am thrilled to be here in Barcelona, the city where the Fondazione Mediterraneo began its work forty years ago,” said Secretary-General Michele Capasso, “but I was even more struck by the power of Pope Leo XIV’s words when he stated that ‘gratuitousness is superior to the logic of profit’.”
The Pope arrived at the “Lluís Companys” Olympic Stadium in Barcelona this evening for a prayer vigil and a dialogue with a group of young people. The stadium, which has a capacity of 55,000 spectators, is full. Near the stadium, Leo XIV blessed a convoy of ambulances and humanitarian vehicles bound for Ukraine, thanks to a humanitarian corridor organised by the Dominican nun Lucia Caram, of the Convent of Santa Chiara in Manresa, known internationally as Sister Lucia for her humanitarian initiatives.

The Pope arrived at the “Lluís Companys” Olympic Stadium in Barcelona this evening for a prayer vigil and a dialogue with a group of young people. The stadium, which has a capacity of 55,000 spectators, is full. Near the stadium, Leo XIV blessed a convoy of ambulances and humanitarian vehicles bound for Ukraine, thanks to a humanitarian corridor organised by the Dominican nun Lucia Caram, of the Convent of Santa Chiara in Manresa, known internationally as Sister Lucia for her humanitarian initiatives.
Speaking with some young people during the prayer vigil at the stadium, the Pope said: “In our societies, the idolatry of profit and performance, the frenzy of always having to produce and be winners, as well as the cult of one’s own image, are nothing more than anaesthetics to numb our conscience and mould it to a certain idea of society.” 
“When people learn to pause, to value what is important, to appreciate time in a new way and to reflect on their own lives, they also develop a critical perspective towards a social system that does not place the person at the centre and gives rise to situations of injustice and existential poverty at various levels. That is why restlessness is frightening, as is the discovery of inner life, of spirituality and, even more so, of the Gospel,” he added. 
The Pope also urged us “not to judge the ‘nights’; neither the nights of our own lives, nor those of the Church, nor those of the society around us. In the night, we must instead set out on our journey, continue to turn to the Lord, and open ourselves to the breath of the Spirit, so as to welcome the night no longer as a sign of failure, but as the beginning of a new life”.
“In another part of his conversation with young people during the prayer vigil at the stadium,” emphasises Secretary-General Michele Capasso, “the Pope also spoke about femicide, stating that ‘Many crime reports reflect a toxic atmosphere in family relationships, characterised by abuse and oppression, and in particular by violence against women, which unfortunately often leads to femicide. We are all called to address this tragic reality, both personally and as a society, because it is up to us to tackle it in all its dimensions’”.
In his first address in Barcelona from the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia, the Pope said: “The atmosphere we are called to foster in our communities, in our families, in our parishes, in our places of work and education, within the Curia and in every other sphere of life, is a family atmosphere, in which we live together in solidarity, with openness, capable of mercy, sacrifice, mutual care and forgiveness.”