The Pope is already in Madrid, where he was received by the kings of Spain and Pedro Sánchez
Pope Leo XIV that sexual abuse “is a still open wound” and that he will continue to work personally, as well as the entire Church, on this problem.
“I emphasize the fact that I personally have always worked to establish commissions, to make rules and I will continue to do so, as will the entire Church, because it is a wound that is still open”, said Leo XIV, quoted by journalists who traveled this Saturday with the Pope on the plane that took him from Rome to Madrid.
The Pope thus responded to questions about sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in Spain and confirmed that he will meet victims during the seven-day trip that began today in the country.
Leo XIV landed at Adolfo Suárez/Barajas airport, in Madrid, shortly before 10:15 am local time (9:15 am in Lisbon) and was received, upon getting off the plane, by the Kings of Spain, Felipe VI and Letizia, and by the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, as well as other political authorities and the Catholic Church.
The Pope and authorities then headed towards the Royal Palace of Madrid, where Leo XIV will be received in a ceremony with state honors.
In the afternoon, he will visit a Caritas center that works with homeless people and, in the evening, he will hold a vigil with young people in the center of Madrid where hundreds of thousands of people are expected.
In addition to Madrid, it includes visits to Barcelona and the Canary Islands, where Leo XIV will fulfill his predecessor Francisco’s desire to go to these islands, which deal daily with the arrival of migrants in precarious boats from Africa, known as ‘pateras’ or ‘cayucos’.
Speaking to journalists on board his flight from Rome to Madrid, the first stop of the week-long visit, Leo XIII explained that he will visit migrants in the Canary Islands, to ask the world to show respect for all human beings. And he said he hopes the trip serves as a good example for the world.
This is the first visit of a Pope to Spain in 15 years and this “apostolic trip” has an unprecedented political charge, which includes a speech in the national parliament, on Monday, and two days dedicated to immigration and the phenomenon of ‘pateras’, on June 11 and 12, during the trip to the Canary Islands.
The visit’s agenda has, in addition to the purely religious dimension, an institutional and State component, with meetings and official events with the Royal Family and the Government, as well as a social dimension (focused on the reception and integration of immigrants, homeless people and prisoners) and another cultural dimension, centered on Barcelona and the work of Antoni Gaudí, the architect of the Sagrada Familia, which has been the tallest Catholic temple in the world since this year.
In the Canary Islands, Leo
In 2025, official data indicated that 17,788 people arrived in ‘pateras’ to the Canaries, after the records of 2023 and 2024, when there were 39,910 and 46,843, respectively. Another 3,100 died at sea last year, according to the non-governmental organization (NGO) Caminando Fronteras, which calls the “Canary route” the world’s deadliest immigration route.
