Pope Leo XIV plans to travel to Spain this year and will stop in Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands, the archbishop of Madrid said after meetings in Rome. Cardinal José Cobo Cano told journalists that plans for the trip were being discussed following a meeting with a top official in the Vatican secretary of state to work through an itinerary. Cobo said that while June had been rumored as a possible timing, the date was still undecided.
Cobo’s account placed Barcelona at the center of the planned itinerary, with Leo to visit the Sagrada Familia basilica. He pointed to the fact that 2026 marks the 100th anniversary of the death of the basilica’s architect, Antoni Gaudí, whose work remains tied to the church’s future plans for recognition.
The planned itinerary would also include the Canary Islands, an archipelago off northwest Africa where large numbers of migrants arrive from West Africa. Cobo said the plan fits Pope Francis’ wish of visiting a key migration entry point to Europe, noting that Francis had long declined to visit the Spanish mainland but had hoped to visit the islands as part of his outreach to migrants and refugees.
Alongside the trip announcement, the Vatican’s broader messaging on migration formed part of the context. Leo echoed Francis’ concern in an annual foreign policy speech to the Vatican’s diplomatic corps, telling the envoys that migrants enjoy “inalienable rights,” and saying he hoped efforts to crack down on human trafficking would “will not become a pretext for undermining the dignity of migrants and refugees.”
Cobo said the Spain trip would be Leo’s first known travel plans for 2026. The American pope has said he wants to visit Africa this year, particularly Algeria, and has also said he hopes to return to Peru, where he lived as a missionary for two decades, and to visit Argentina and Uruguay, which had unsuccessfully lobbied for a trip by the Argentine pope during his pontificate.
The announcement also came amid a reported shift in Spain’s Catholic abuse-compensation oversight. Word of the planned papal travel arrived a day after Spain’s government said Catholic bishops had reached a landmark agreement—strongly supported by the Vatican—that would allow the state ombudsman to have the final say in church-funded compensation for victims of clergy sexual abuse. Justice Minister Félix Bolaños, who led the talks with the Spanish bishops, credited the Vatican with pushing for the deal despite opposition from some bishops.
In an interview with Cadena Ser radio, Bolaños said he had “the feeling that the Holy See has pushed for this, that the Spanish church has signed the agreement,” while also saying he believed “some bishops in Spain are not entirely enthusiastic about this agreement.” The reporting said Spain’s ombudsman office documented decades of abuse and cover-up in 2023, and that abuse survivors had criticized the bishops’ earlier in-house compensation proposal as lacking oversight.