All posts tagged: papal visit Spain

Pope Leo tells youth in Madrid to be ‘sparks of a new humanity’

Pope Leo tells youth in Madrid to be ‘sparks of a new humanity’

Published by Sam Flores

MADRID (RNS) – Pope Leo XIV urged young people to “be human” in a world that he said was marked by violence, wars and fake connections, during a meeting with more than 400,000 youth gathered at Plaza de Lima in Madrid on Saturday (June 6). “In the face of the emptiness of indifference and compliance, before the violence of war and lies, you must be the sparks of a new humanity,” he said. “This is precisely the mission I entrust to you: that you be human. Yes, be human: men and women of flesh and blood!” Leo encouraged young people to cast aside appearances, to seek justice and to live an honest life. “Be human as Christ is human, the perfect man, the risen One who shares history with us in every age,” he said. The pope is in Spain for a six-day trip that began on Saturday, taking him to Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands. He made the remarks at a prayer vigil on a hot summer evening in the center of Madrid, …

In Spain, Pope Leo faces Europe’s tensions over faith, migration and life issues

In Spain, Pope Leo faces Europe’s tensions over faith, migration and life issues

Published by Sam Flores

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — When Pope Leo XIV lands in Spain on Saturday (June 6), he will find a country riven by polarization over migration and life issues, and where declining church attendance coexists with a new, striking interest in faith among young people. In short, the pope will land in a European laboratory for many tensions shaping the West: a promising stage to deliver his message of unity, human dignity and peace. Already in 2010, Pope Benedict XVI described Spain as a central place for the “encounter, not conflict,” between faith and secular modernity. Leo struck a similar note in a Feb. 9 letter to 1,600 Spanish priests, saying Spain faces “advanced processes of secularization” and “a growing polarization in public discourse,” but also a “new restlessness” and spiritual searching among young people. Spain, once the home of Catholic missionaries throughout the centuries, is now itself a mission territory where an increasingly small Catholic minority seeks the encouragement of the pontiff. “I think the pope’s visit will be a splendid moment to encourage this …