Pope Leo XIV’s June trip to Spain, announced May 6 by the Vatican, is set to combine religious milestones in Barcelona with meetings focused on migrants in the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago in the Atlantic that lies off northwest Africa. The schedule will run from June 6-12, beginning with high-level meetings in Madrid before moving to Barcelona for Sagrada Familia celebrations and then to the Canary Islands for encounters with migrants and the groups that work with them.
In Madrid, the Vatican said, Leo will hold meetings with Spain’s government, parliament and King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia. The visit will also include a prayer vigil with young people, the Vatican said, recalling the last time a pope visited Spain for World Youth Day: in 2011, when Pope Benedict XVI presided as Madrid hosted the event.
From there, the pope is expected to travel to Barcelona, where he will mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí on June 10. The Vatican said Leo will celebrate an evening Mass in the basilica and inaugurate the basilica’s “Tower of Jesus Christ,” describing it as the soaring central tower that was moved into place in February.
Vatican officials also said the tower has brought Sagrada Familia to its maximum height, placing it at 172½ meters (around 566 feet) above Barcelona. Construction, however, remains ongoing, and Spain’s bishops said Wednesday that Gaudí is on a path toward possible sainthood but will not be canonized during Leo’s trip.
The Vatican said the Madrid schedule is designed to include a particularly prominent engagement with Spain’s lawmakers. Archbishop Luis Argüello of Valladolid, head of the Spanish Catholic bishops conference, said Leo’s address to parliament stands out because, in Argüello’s view, parliament “as the embodiment of national sovereignty, needs to reflect on what an ethical and spiritual reference means at a time of the undoubtedly necessary renewal of our democratic life,” adding that such addresses by popes are rare.
The Vatican’s announcement tied Leo’s Spain plans to the approach of his predecessor, Pope Francis, who had said reaching out to migrants and refugees was a hallmark of his papacy. The Vatican said Francis had planned to visit the Canary Islands, even while staying away from Spain’s mainland for his 12-year pontificate, as he prioritized smaller destinations away from traditional Catholic centers.
The Vatican also linked Leo’s itinerary to Spain’s current immigration debate. Under Spain’s Socialist government led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Spain has championed legal immigration and is pursuing a migrant amnesty measure aimed at legalizing the status of an estimated 500,000 people living in Spain without authorization, the Vatican said. The announcement noted conservative opposition parties have criticized the measure, including Vox, which described the effort as an “attack on our identity,” while the government said the measure has backing from a broad coalition that includes the Catholic Church and many business leaders.
In the Canary Islands, the Vatican said Leo will spend two days meeting with organizations working with migrants in Las Palmas, then meeting with migrants at a reception center in Tenerife and separately with Spanish groups that assist them. The Vatican said the islands are about 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.
The Vatican said migrant arrivals in the Canaries have fluctuated over recent years and provided figures from Spain’s Interior Ministry. It said arrivals peaked in 2024 with nearly 47,000 arrivals, and that, following pressure and deals between the European Union, Spain and governments in Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia, arrivals have fallen sharply, with just over 2,000 migrants landing in the Canaries in the first four months of 2026.
After Leo’s Spain trip, the Vatican said the pope planned to travel next to Lampedusa, Sicily, on July 4 to meet with migrants at what it called the main entry point to Europe—on the same day the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary of independence.