Barcelona was the focus on Wednesday as Pope Leo XIV addressed 92 Christian social organisations at Sant Agustí church in the city’s Raval neighbourhood. He called for stronger support for older people facing unwanted solitude and urged equality between men and women.
Speaking to the audience, the Pontiff said, “Let us not allow loneliness and abandonment to become normalised in the lives of older adults.” He also said he had “never thought” as a child that he would become Pope.
The remark came after a letter from six-year-old Renzo, who asked about the Pope’s hobbies and life challenges. “Do you like playing football? When you were little, did you want to be Pope?” he asked from the church presbytery, prompting laughter from those present. Renzo also asked why his father had so much work, why so many people sleep on the street, why grandparents are often alone, and whether people should always forgive.
After embracing Renzo, Leo XIV replied that he plays tennis and likes it very much. He also said he tried American football in his youth. Referring to the World Cup starting that Thursday, he said sport reminds people that “life is not a solitary race, but a path we learn to travel together”.
The Pope also used the occasion to call for equality and unity. He urged the audience to “welcome every woman as a sister, and every man as a brother”, and praised organisations that accompany “the smallest and most vulnerable to alleviate their suffering and remedy their poverty”.
Prevost alternated between Spanish and Catalan during the speech. Before Renzo spoke, leaders from three organisations addressed the gathering: Cristina García from Caritas Diocesana de Barcelona, Xavier Agramunt from Obinso, which helps people with addictions, and Encarna Jordán from Adoratrices, which cares for women who are victims of trafficking.
Sant Agustí church was chosen deliberately. Father Faustin’s parish provides meals to hundreds of people each day through its soup kitchen, and the church is also home to a Filipino parish led by Father Michael Go. Prevost said that when he visited in 1984, the church was closed, and that it “fills my heart” to return and see it open and working for others.
Among those present were the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, the Minister of Justice, Ramon Espadaler, Cardinal Juan José Omella, the Minister of Social Rights and Inclusion, Mònica Martínez Bravo, the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, former Barcelona mayor Xavier Trias, and former FC Barcelona president Joan Gaspart. The Raval event was Robert Prevost’s final engagement before ending his two-day visit to Barcelona with a ride in the Popemobile and the blessing of the Jesus tower at the Sagrada Familia.