The King receives the Pope in Madrid, thanking him for his “humanist vision” and his “firmness” against abuses in the Church

Eduardo González Felipe VI, in his welcoming speech to Leo XIV in Madrid this Saturday, thanked the Pontiff for the “clarity and firmness” shown against the pain caused by the cases of abuse in the Church, which “are neither representative nor can be representative of the immense ecclesial community,” and praised the “humanist vision” of the Pope’s recent Encyclical in favor of a technological revolution that keeps “the person at the center of any discourse.” King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia King welcomed the Pope at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport on Saturday at the start of his apostolic visit to Spain, in the presence of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Spanish authorities, and representatives of the Holy See and the Spanish Episcopal Conference. The apostolic visit takes place from June 6 to 12 in Madrid, Barcelona, and the Canary Islands. This is the ninth visit by a Pope to Spain since 1982 and the first in fifteen years. John Paul II visited Spain five times, Benedict XVI three times, and Francis never did. When asked why, the late Argentine Pope simply replied: “First, you have to come to an agreement.” After a brief meeting between the King and Queen, Pedro Sánchez, and the Pope in a room at the State Pavilion at the Airport, the official program of the visit began at the Royal Palace of Madrid, where Pope Leo XIV was received by the King and Queen, the Princess of Asturias, and Infanta Sofía, and the official welcoming ceremony was held. During the ceremony, the King delivered a speech in which, after highlighting Spain's Christian roots, he praised the Pope for "habitually" using the Spanish language "thanks to your years of missionary life and pastoral work in Peru, alongside the Order of Saint Augustine," and thanked Leo XIV for his decision to include the Canary Islands in his visit to Spain for the first time in the history of papal trips to the country, and "for the generosity and sensitivity you demonstrate with the scope and intensity of this visit." Separately, the Monarch highlighted “the enormous social work of the Catholic Church, the fruit of the commitment of religious men and women, priests, deacons, young people involved in parish life, and volunteers who help in residences, shelters, soup kitchens, and reception centers.” He also acknowledged the work of the thousands of Spanish missionaries spread throughout the world, “who carry out their social, educational, welfare, and pastoral work in so many needy places around the globe, often remote or still very disconnected.” Later in his speech, the King recalled the pain caused by the cases of abuse in the Church, which “are neither representative nor can they be representative of the vast ecclesial community.” He recognized the “clarity and firmness” of Pope Leo XIV on this issue, which he described as “essential in the healing process and in repairing the damage inflicted” on “the victims, the faithful, the Church, and society as a whole.” Furthermore, King Felipe VI warned of the need to recover the capacity for listening in increasingly polarized societies, “because in a world awash in data and messages, empathy, understanding, and listening are essential.” “Your predecessor, His Holiness Pope Francis, often insisted on the importance of knowing how to listen,” he recalled. “It is paradoxical that, in a time of interconnectedness, we are losing that capacity or that patience,” he lamented. The King also addressed the challenges posed by the technological revolution and, in particular, artificial intelligence, and in this regard recalled the scientific training of Leo XIV and his recent encyclical ‘Magnifica Humanitas,’ a “humanist text” in which the Pope has called for “keeping the person at the center of any discourse, never replaced, subjugated, or coerced by any algorithm.” The Pope defends international law and multilateralism In his response, the Pope thanked the host for the invitation to make this apostolic journey to Spain, which he described as “a multi-stage journey, each stage of which will reveal some aspect of the multifaceted richness of a great country,” and praised Spain’s “fidelity” “to international law and multilateralism, which translates into an active commitment to peace and solidarity among peoples.” He also argued that “it is not the culture of confrontation, but the culture of encounter, that generates stability and prosperity” for nations. “The message of peace, which in these times, unfortunately, resonates with some as naive and with others as provocative, finds a receptive audience among those who do not confine themselves to prefabricated ideologies, but rather open themselves to the truth,” the Pontiff emphasized. Therefore, Leo XIV urged people to abandon “divisive and polarizing narratives” and to “appreciate complexity and study it, learn not to deny it and live it as a blessing, and flee from those identity-based approaches that seem to explain everything, but which populate the world with phantoms and enemies.” “I come to Spain to confirm, encourage, and inspire a renewed fidelity of believers to the Gospel, as well as a deeper reconciliation and cooperation among the various forces of this nation,” the Pope posted on social media. “In fact, its own history suggests that it is not the culture of confrontation, but that of encounter, that generates stability and prosperity,” he added.

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