Apostolic Journey to Spain

Spain has welcomed the papacy six times in the modern era: Paul VI in 1970, John Paul II four times between 1982 and 2003 — including his iconic address to youth in Santiago de Compostela and the 1989 World Youth Day in Santiago — and Benedict XVI in 2010 and 2011, when he consecrated the Sagrada Família and presided over World Youth Day in Madrid. Today some 33 million Spaniards identify as Catholic — around 67% of the population — though regular Mass attendance has fallen to roughly 15%. Pope Leo XIV's journey focuses on faith and youth in Madrid and Barcelona, and on the Church's humanitarian response in the Canary Islands, where the Diocese of Canarias has become one of Europe's frontline responders to the Atlantic crossing from West Africa: over 46,000 migrants arrived by sea in 2023 alone.