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Pope Leo XIV will visit Spain next month for a weeklong trip that the Vatican said will pair major Catholic ceremony with migrant outreach, including a stop in the Canary Islands where many people arrive on journeys from Africa. The Vatican said Wednesday that the June 6-12 visit will bring the pope to Madrid, Barcelona and migrant reception centers in the Spanish archipelago.
The Vatican said the pope’s itinerary begins in Madrid, where he will meet with Spain’s government, its parliament and the monarchy of King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia. The visit will also include a prayer vigil with young people, recalling the last time a pope visited Spain in connection with World Youth Day: 2011, when Madrid hosted World Youth Day with Pope Benedict XVI presiding.
In Barcelona, the Vatican said Pope Leo XIV will be present for the 100th anniversary on June 10 of the death of Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, who designed the Sagrada Familia basilica. The Vatican said the pope will celebrate an evening Mass in the basilica and inaugurate the “Tower of Jesus Christ,” the soaring central tower moved into place in February.
The Vatican said the tower brought Sagrada Familia to its maximum height of 172½ meters (around 566 feet) above Barcelona, but the project remains unfinished. The Vatican said Benedict visited in 2010 to consecrate the basilica, and it said Spain’s bishops also noted that “there will still be unfinished related business” when Leo visits. The bishops said Gaudí is on a path to possible sainthood but will not be canonized during the pope’s trip.
The Vatican said the pope will preside over a prayer vigil with young people in Madrid, and that Archbishop Luis Argüello of Valladolid, head of the Spanish Catholic bishops conference, highlighted the planned parliamentary address as especially significant. Argüello said in the Vatican’s statement that he believed the speech was of “great importance,” adding that parliament, as “the embodiment of national sovereignty,” should reflect on what an ethical and spiritual reference means at a time when “the undoubtedly necessary renewal of our democratic life” is underway.
The Vatican also said the June trip reflects an intention of Pope Francis, including a focus on reaching out to migrants in the Canary Islands. Francis had sought to place migrant outreach at the center of his papacy even while staying away from Spain’s mainland for his entire 12-year pontificate, prioritizing smaller destinations away from traditional centers of Catholicism.
Spain has championed legal immigration under Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, while the Vatican’s statement pointed to opposition criticism of a migrant amnesty measure aimed at legalizing the status of an estimated 500,000 people living in Spain without authorization. The Vatican said conservative parties, including Vox, have criticized the measure and described the legalization push as an “attack on our identity,” while Spain’s government said the proposal has support across a broad coalition that includes the Catholic Church and many business leaders.
The Vatican said the pope will spend two days in the Canary Islands, first meeting organizations that work with migrants in Las Palmas. The following day, the Vatican said, Leo will meet migrants at a reception center in Tenerife and also meet Spanish groups that work with migrants.
The Vatican said the Canary Islands lie roughly 65 miles (105 kilometers) from the closest point in Africa and that to avoid security forces many migrants attempt longer journeys that can take days or weeks. It also said migrant arrivals peaked in 2024 with nearly 47,000 arrivals, citing Spain’s Interior Ministry statistics, and that arrivals have fallen since pressure and deals involving the European Union, Spain and governments including Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia, with just over 2,000 migrants landing in the Canaries in the first four months of 2026.
A few weeks after the Canary Islands visit, the Vatican said Pope Leo XIV will travel on July 4 to Lampedusa, Sicily, to meet with migrants at Europe’s main entry point. The Vatican said the date also coincides with the United States’ July 4 celebration of its 250th anniversary of independence.