Barcelona marked Pope Leo XIV’s visit to the Sagrada Família with a mix of pride and tension. The Pope blessed the basilica’s highest tower in a ceremony that local reports described as carefully staged and significant for Catalonia.
The visit took place on the 100th anniversary of Antoni Gaudí’s death. According to the source article, the Pope spoke significantly in Catalan, which was welcomed by many Catalan Christians and seen as a positive gesture.
There was also controversy around the event. Members of several choirs told ARA that security staff checked their sheet music booklets before the mass and removed copies with estelada, or Catalan independence flag, symbols. The singers later reported being escorted out of the basilica after the performance.
The article says the choirs had begun singing inside the Sagrada Família, including the Virolai, a Catalan hymn. It also states that some choristers were removed while plainclothes police officers were present, and that there had been plans for 600 choristers to sing Els Segadors, the Catalan national anthem.
Political figures including Spanish President Pedro Sánchez and Catalan Socialist leader Salvador Illa were present alongside Pope Leo XIV. The source article frames the episode as part of a wider political climate that remains unsettled, while noting that Spain has no official state religion and that both governments supported the papal visit.
Beyond the ceremony itself, the article links the event to wider Barcelona debates about tourism and housing. It notes that the Sagrada Família’s Board of Trustees already manages a Social Action Fund, which supports vulnerable groups in Barcelona, Terrassa and Sant Feliu de Llobregat. The piece also refers to a separate fatal shooting on Balmes Street in Barcelona on the same day, which police suspect is linked to a drug trafficking gang.