<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, was received this Friday in an audience by Pope Francis, whom he invited to visit Spain in 2025, specifically to visit the Canary Islands, to "learn about the reality of the Canarian people" due to the arrival of migratory flows, and Seville, to attend the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development. During the subsequent press conference, he also asked the international community to “stop exporting arms to the Government of Israel.”</strong></h4> The interview, a “short, but very fruitful” 35-minute working meeting, according to Sánchez, took place in the Vatican Apostolic Library. This is the second audience between the Pope and the President of the Government. The first took place four years ago, on October 24, 2020, and on that occasion Pedro Sánchez was accompanied by his wife, Begoña Gómez. During the meeting, as Sánchez himself explained during his subsequent meeting with the press at the Spanish Academy in Rome, the head of the Executive made “two requests for an invitation: one is to the Canary Islands, and I have requested the presence of the Holy See, if possible of Pope Francis, at the development conference to be held in June in Seville.” In this regard, Sánchez based his invitation to visit the Canary Islands on “the interest that the Holy See has in knowing the reality of the Canarian people” in the face of the increase in migratory flows on its coasts. In addition, the Pope himself expressed to the press on September 13 his desire to travel to the archipelago to “be close to the rulers and the people of the Canary Islands” in view of the arrival “of immigrants coming from the sea.” Furthermore, Seville will host the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development between June 30 and July 3, 2025, which will try to promote policies and resources to carry out the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals at a global level. <h5><strong>Middle East</strong></h5> Regarding the rest of the issues discussed with the Pope, Sánchez highlighted “the issues that have to do with peace, with the end of the war, in Ukraine and the Middle East” and the migration issue, “an issue that worries Pope Francis a lot.” Regarding the first of the topics, the President of the Government highlighted the leadership of Pope Francis in the Middle East conflict and conveyed to the Pope Spain's position in favour of "respect for International Law and International Humanitarian Law" and of "firm condemnation of any type of violation, attack, infringement of this Law, whether in Gaza, the West Bank, Ukraine, or more recently, as we are seeing these days, in Lebanon". <span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">Pedro Sánchez also took advantage of his appearance before the media to condemn the Israeli attacks in recent hours against the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and to denounce that Israel is contravening International Law because “it is invading a third country, in this case Lebanon.”</span></span> <span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">“I believe that it is urgent that, in light of everything that is happening in the Middle East, the international community stops exporting arms to the Government of Israel,” he warned.</span></span> <span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">Sánchez also conveyed to Pope Francis his concern about the increase in religious intolerance in the region as a result of the conflict and stressed, in this regard, the importance of religious tolerance as a means of understanding between peoples and as a message of peace.</span></span> <span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">After the audience with Pedro Sánchez, Pope Francis received the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, who is on a tour of Europe (United Kingdom, France, Italy and Germany) to present his Plan for Victory.</span></span> Regarding the second topic, Pedro Sánchez explained to the Pontiff the Spanish policy of border control, of improving reception systems, of aid to countries of origin and transit and of promoting a "policy linked to regular, legal, safe and orderly migration". "I have told him that the Spanish government advocates a humanist migration policy, respectful of human rights and decisive against mafias that traffic in human beings," said Sánchez, who assured that the Pope "has shown great interest" in these issues. <h5><strong>Cuelgamuros and sexual abuse</strong></h5> After the audience with the Pope, Sánchez was received by the Vatican Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, and by the Secretary for Relations with States of the Holy See, Paul Gallagher, with whom he discussed the development of the Law of Democratic Memory, especially in relation to “the redefinition of the Valley of Cuelgamuros”. In this regard, Sánchez showed his “absolute willingness to reach an agreement with the Catholic Church” to enforce the law. The Government is currently negotiating with the Vatican the departure of the congregation of Benedictine monks from what was until now known as the Valley of the Fallen before the end of 2025. The head of the Executive also spoke with both about the “application and development of the report and conclusions of the Ombudsman, where recommendations were raised in relation to the victims of sexual abuse by the Catholic Church”. According to the Holy See Press Office, these meetings with Parolin and Gallagher allowed them to address “some regional and international issues, with particular attention to ongoing conflicts, highlighting the importance of an urgent commitment to support peace, as well as the serious migration crisis, especially in the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands.”
