Pope Leo XIV is set to celebrate Mass at Barcelona’s Sagrada Família on Wednesday, concluding a major weeklong visit to Spain and marking his first significant trip to Europe since becoming pope last year. The Vatican said the service will include a papal blessing for the basilica’s highest spire, part of the Tower of Jesus Christ, which was completed in February and now makes Sagrada Família the tallest church in the world at 566 feet. The tower is crowned with a massive five-story ceramic cross.
The Barcelona Mass comes after a public appearance in Madrid on Sunday, where the Vatican said about 1.2 million people attended an outdoor liturgy. On Monday, Leo made history as the first pope to address the Spanish parliament. In his remarks, he warned that war and political division were driving the world into a “profound spiritual and cultural crisis.” He also criticized the increase in European defense spending, arguing that governments should devote more resources to peacebuilding and aid for the poor. “Weapons can impose a temporary silence, but they can never build an authentic and lasting peace,” he said.
Leo has spoken mainly in Spanish during his visit and is expected to make some comments in Catalan in Barcelona, where Catalonia’s regional language is widely used. The trip is the first papal visit to predominantly Catholic Spain in 15 years, even as church attendance has declined sharply across the country and much of Western Europe.
The Barcelona stop also coincides with the centenary of the death of Antoni Gaudí, the celebrated Catalan architect who conceived Sagrada Família. Gaudí took charge of the basilica in 1883 and reimagined it as a towering expression of Catholic faith unlike any church of its era. His distinctive style, marked by organic forms and playful, nature-inspired details, later came to define much of Barcelona’s architecture, including Park Güell.
Gaudí never saw the basilica finished. He died on June 10, 1926, after being struck by a tram in Barcelona. A devout Catholic known for his humble appearance, he was initially mistaken for a beggar and did not receive immediate care. More than 140 years after construction began, Sagrada Família remains under development, with planners hoping to complete the basilica by 2034.
Today, the project is sustained largely by tourism. Foreign visitors, who provide construction funding through entrance fees, make up about 90% of visitors, and more Americans than Spaniards now visit the site, according to the basilica. Among those continuing Gaudí’s vision is Mexican architect Mauricio Cortés, who helped assemble the 24-ton cross placed atop the Tower of Jesus Christ.
