reflections, updates and homilies from Deacon Mike Talbot inspired by the following words from my ordination: Receive the Gospel of Christ whose herald you have become. Believe what you read, teach what you believe and practice what you teach...
On the fourth day of his Apostolic Journey to Spain, Pope Leo XIV closed his time in Madrid meeting volunteers before taking a short flight to the northeast part of the country: Barcelona.
Kielce Gussie – Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
To conclude his time in Spain’s capital city, Pope Leo spent his last morning in Madrid meeting with volunteers who dedicated their time to help others truly live his visit and he offered them his heartfelt gratitude.
The Pope highlighted their generosity in responding quickly to the call for assistance. “Each of you gave what you could, offering your heart, hands, ideas, talents and smiles,” he said. “May God reward you as only He knows how!”
Pope Leo urged all Christians to bring the “leaven of selflessness” to everyone. “Selflessness is like leaven that makes the human, ethical, and spiritual dimensions of a society grow, and it is a distinctive element of the ‘City of God’,” he noted.
Part two begins
Around noon, Pope Leo arrived at his second destination of the Apostolic Journey: Barcelona. At the city’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia, he began with midday prayer after being met with crowds along the streets.
Using his love and knowledge of languages, the Pope delivered his homily in a mixture of Catalan and Spanish and invited everyone to reflect on the images of the Bride and the Body. He highlighted how Barcelona’s Catholic community—rich in a diversity of gifts, charisms, and personal stories—is an example of the image of the Bride.
Moreover, we are all one body in Christ. Just as in a body, “there are members who are stronger and others who are weaker”. Some members of the Church are visible in their work and others more hidden.
In light of this, he challenged everyone to make unity a priority. “We are strong because we are united, and we are united because we are animated by the same Spirit”.
‘We are made for the infinite’
On his first evening in Barcelona, Pope Leo met with young people at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium and listened to three testimonies, which reflected on themes of conversion, mental health, violence, and suffering.
Then the Pope took time to respond to each of them.
To Ferran, who spoke of an emptiness despite worldly success, Pope Leo stressed that “we are made for the infinite. That is why every finite horizon, every step, every achievement - while satisfying us - also propels us forward and invites us to keep searching.”
He urged Ferran and all young people to “look within” and to avoid being overwhelmed with life’s fast pace.
To Carmina, who recounted her struggle with depression, Pope Leo highlighted how “this is a sign that there is something deeply wrong with a certain notion of progress that subjects people to pressures, expectations and tensions that compromise healthy balances.” He encouraged her to look to Christ’s Passion in “those dark hours.”
Finally, speaking to Cecilia, who had lived through domestic violence, addiction, and separation from her family, the Pope turned to forgiveness. "We must learn to view forgiveness - that powerful remedy for evil that heals our inner wounds - as part of a process and a journey", he said.
Reflect honestly
In a homily after speaking to young people, the Pope looked at modern day Spain and urged everyone to honestly reflect on the challenges of today’s society, including poverty, social division and cultural change, asking them to think about what kind of future they want to create together.
The Pope explained “this country may then be a welcoming space for all, where each person’s dignity is respected and everyone loved for who they are.”
At a prayer vigil in Barcelona, Pope Leo encourages young people to embrace their spiritual restlessness, trust in God’s presence amid suffering and mental illness, and view forgiveness not as a single act but as a gradual journey of healing and reconciliation.
By Vatican News
At a prayer vigil with young people at Barcelona’s Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium on Tuesday evening, Pope Leo responded to three testimonies touching on conversion, mental health, suffering, violence, and forgiveness.
Addressing a newly baptised young man, Ferran, who spoke of the emptiness he experienced despite pursuing success and recognition, the Pope said that such restlessness is not something to be feared but embraced.
"We are made for the infinite", he said. "That is why every finite horizon, every step, every achievement - while satisfying us - also propels us forward and invites us to keep searching".
Pope Leo warned against what he described as the "idolatry of profit and performance" and the "cult of self-image", calling them "anesthetics designed to numb our conscience and mold it to a certain vision of society".
Instead, he encouraged young people to cultivate silence and interiority amid a culture of constant distraction.
"Look within", he urged. "Try not to be overwhelmed by the pace of life and external temptations. Cultivate moments of silence, perhaps pausing for a few minutes each day to read the Gospel and speak with God".
Pope Leo shakes hands with the recently baptized man who gave his testimony (@Vatican Media)
God in the darkness
The second testimony came from Carmina, a young woman who spoke openly about her struggle with depression and a past suicide attempt. Asking where God can be found when darkness seems absolute, she described receiving what he called a "second chance" at life.
Thanking her for his courage, Pope Leo said mental health is increasingly threatened in societies that consider themselves advanced. "This is a sign that there is something deeply wrong with a certain notion of progress that subjects people to pressures, expectations and tensions that compromise healthy balances", he said.
Reflecting on Christ’s Passion, the Pope pointed to Jesus’ own experience of anguish, abandonment and suffering. "The Son of God took all the anguish, loneliness and suffering of humanity upon himself, in his own flesh", he said. "In those dark hours, as he was dying on the cross, Jesus shared our pain and revealed to us the face of a compassionate God".
The Pope acknowledged that suffering can make it seem as though God is absent, but insisted that the Cross tells a different story. "The cross of Jesus tells us that God does not abandon us, that he is at our side, crucified with us in moments of pain and extreme loneliness".
At the same time, he cautioned Christians against offering simplistic explanations for suffering. "We must not spiritualize pain, superficially attributing it to ‘God’s will’ or to some mysterious plan of his", he said. "God does not want suffering. He carries it with us".
The young women who gave her testimony (@Vatican Media)
Forgiveness as a journey
The third and final testimony came from a young woman called Cecilia who recounted a childhood marked by domestic violence, addiction, and separation from her family. Having discovered faith through the support she received in a Catholic care centre, she asked how she could forgive her father for attempting to kill her mother and how she could be reconciled with God.
Pope Leo first addressed the question she often asked herself: "Where was God?"
"We cannot attribute to God what has been entrusted to our responsibility", he said. "We cannot imagine that God, from on high, will automatically respond to our needs or miraculously prevent evil from happening". Instead, he said, situations of violence should lead society to examine itself.
"If violence exists, if selfishness prevails, if even love among family members turns into hatred, we must question the dynamics of our society, the culture of individualism and the temptation of violence - but not God".
Turning to forgiveness, the Pope described it not as a single act but as a gradual process. "We must learn to view forgiveness - that powerful remedy for evil that heals our inner wounds - as part of a process and a journey", he said.
Acknowledging how difficult forgiveness can be for those who have suffered deeply, he stressed that it often begins with asking God to heal the wounded places within the human heart. "We move forward in small steps toward forgiveness", he said. "Reconciliation with the past is gradual".
The Pope also clarified that forgiveness does not necessarily mean restoring a previous relationship, particularly where violence has occurred. "We can maintain a good disposition of heart toward the person, reject all forms of hatred or revenge, strive to repair the relationship as much as possible and perhaps pray for him or her", he said.
Bringing his address and responses to a close, Pope Leo encouraged those carrying painful memories not to lose hope, trusting that God can slowly transform resentment into mercy and compassion.
Pope Leo hugs the young woman who gave her testimony (@Vatican Media)
From night into light
Following the dialogue with the young people, Pope Leo delivered a homily centred on the figure of Nicodemus, describing every person as a "pilgrim in the night", searching for meaning, truth and love amid life's uncertainties.
"We are beggars for love; we are truly hungry and thirsty", he said. "We seek a deeper meaning that will sustain us, inspire us, and help us understand the mystery of our lives".
The Pope then reflected on the reality that every human being experience moments of darkness, confusion and doubt, both in life and in faith. Yet rather than seeing these moments as signs of failure, he invited those gathered to view them as opportunities for renewal.
"Nicodemus teaches us that these nights - which accompany our lives, our journey of faith, and the history in which we live - are a time of blessing, a place for rebirth, a womb that always gives birth to new life", he said.
Pope Leo then went on to note that darkness can strip away the masks people wear and reveal what is essential, creating what he called an "empty space" where God can bring about transformation. "The ‘empty space’ that night creates, even when it takes the form of suffering or dissatisfaction, of disillusionment or unbelief, can be an opportunity to receive new life, to change and be renewed.”
Drawing then on the Gospel account of Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus, the Pope stressed that God does not approach humanity with condemnation, but with the desire to save and restore. "For this reason, we too are called not to judge the ‘nights’ - neither the nights of our own lives, those of the Church, nor those of the society around us", he said.
Turning his gaze to contemporary Spain, Pope Leo invited the faithful to reflect honestly on the challenges facing society, including poverty, social division and cultural change, asking what kind of future they wish to build together. "This country may then be a welcoming space for all, where each person’s dignity is respected and everyone loved for who they are", he said.
Bringign his homily to a close, the Pope encouraged all those present and following from afar to continue searching for God with openness and trust, confident that the light of the Gospel can lead them "from night into light".
"God does not want anything to be lost,” he concluded. "Even now he desires to give us eternal life and lead us to a happiness that has no end".
One Is the Pope, the Other an Atheist. They Both Oppose Trump.
Pope Leo XIV and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain, who met on Monday, have recently clashed with President Trump. Their motivations, however, may be different.
Pope Leo XIV welcoming Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain at the Vatican last month, in a photo made available by Vaticanmedia. Credit... Vatican Media, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
When Pope Leo met in Madrid with Spain’s left-wing prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, on Monday morning, they represented, at least to many liberals, a powerful duo joining forces to lead the opposition to President Trump.
“They have the same voice,” when it comes to speaking out against Mr. Trump, Cardinal José Cobo of Madrid said.
Pope Leo has drawn the president’s fury for criticizing the war in Iran and later saying he had “no fear” of the Trump administration. Mr. Sánchez has battled Mr. Trump on everything from NATO spending to the migration policy to his opposition to the wars in Gaza and Iran.
Their motivations, though, are seemingly different.
If the pope was dragged into the fight by Mr. Trump, Mr. Sánchez happily jumped in. Mr. Sánchez is perhaps Europe’s most accomplished political escape artist, after wriggling free from countless crises during his eight years in power. His most recent high-wire act has been to seize on international quarrels with Mr. Trump to raise his global profile and distract from troubles at home, especially the corruption scandals and accusations now swirling around his former allies and family.
Appearing with the pope “will help Sánchez with his external public image,” said Joseba Louzao, a professor at Cardinal Cisneros University and author of “A Brief History of the Catholic Church in Spain.”
Meeting the pope at the Vatican’s embassy in Madrid on Monday, Mr. Sánchez sought to underline their connection by giving the pontiff a Spanish olive bonsai tree that was, the Spanish government said in a statement to reporters, “a universal symbol of peace, dialogue and understanding, values shared by Spain and the Vatican.”
Mr. Sánchez’s relationship with the pope may not matter much in Spain, an increasingly polarized country where feelings about the prime minister were already deeply entrenched, Mr. Louzao said. The great hope for Mr. Sánchez, he suggested, would be Mr. Trump seizing on Monday’s Madrid meeting to attack them together — potentially upgrading the prime minister’s global status and invigorating his base.
On the face of things, the two men have little in common. Mr. Sánchez is a self-declared atheist, a staunch defender of abortion rights and an opponent of Catholic involvement in public education. But to hear him tell it, he is also singing from the same hymn sheet as Pope Leo.
He and the pope have “a certain degree of harmony” he said during a May 27 trip to meet Leo in the Vatican, whether it be their shared opposition to war, their concerns about giant tech companies, or their defense of migrants. “The Catholic Church and the Government of Spain are once again, I believe, very much in tune,” Mr. Sánchez added.
He called Leo “a moral compass” as they navigated with “common sense against irrationality and the law of the jungle.”
When Spain let passengers from a cruise ship infested with hantavirus dock in the Canary Islands in May, Mr. Sánchez responded to local criticism by citing “the explicit recognition expressed by none other than the pope for the solidarity and empathy shown by the people of the Canary Islands.”
Spain’s Catholic prelates have tried to avoid too strong a comparison.
Joan Planellas, the archbishop of Tarragona, acknowledged that when it came to immigration, opposition to war and the need to regulate tech giants. “Certainly, on these topics that seem more left-wing, if we speak politically, there is a certain harmony.” But not on abortion, euthanasia and other “delicate topics,” he said.
Cardinal Cobo added that Mr. Sánchez’s agreement with the pope on some issues did not mean he should use him as a political shield, especially because they still disagreed on many matters.
Eloy Alberto Santiago, the bishop of Tenerife in the Canary Islands, where Leo, joined by Mr. Sánchez, will meet with migrants, said that while the church was a driver behind the Spanish government’s recent move toward giving papers to hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants, it did not mean “we identify with a party or a government.”
Government officials have also said the prime minister is wary of drawing too close to the pope. They said it ran the risk of seeming tacky and transparently political and could provoke a backlash within the prime minister’s left-wing base, which disagrees deeply with the Catholic church on issues such as gay rights, abortion and feminism. In that regard, Mr. Sánchez and Leo have a common interest in not seeming too buddy-buddy.
“The alignment is already so visible that there is no need to overemphasize it or try to co-opt his figure,” said Jorge Tamames, a fellow at the Elcano Royal Institute, a think tank in Madrid
The church, he said, will move cautiously amid the “wasp’s nest” of Spanish politics, but the pope’s positions on the major issues of the day “are so irreconcilable with the right or with the far-right” that “a contrast is inevitable, and the government doesn’t need to force it.”
Mr. Sánchez’s allies also hope the pope’s visit helps point out the distance between right-wing leaders who flaunt their Catholicism and the actual leader of the Roman Catholic Church. Spain’s far-right party, Vox, has tried to win over Catholic voters by presenting itself as the protector of Catholic traditions, even though it has also criticized Catholic bishops for supporting migrants.
To prevent Mr. Sánchez from deriving political capital from the visit, conservatives have sought to characterize him as trying to use Leo as a shield.
Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the president of the Madrid region, who also visited the pope in the Vatican this month, has accused Mr. Sánchez of “trying to appropriate” Pope Leo’s visit. “In the last eight years, he has been incapable of having a single gesture toward Catholics,” Ms. Ayuso said.
Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the leader of the main conservative Spanish opposition party, mocked Mr. Sánchez as trying to wrap himself in the clean robes of the popular pope.
“If he wants to get closer to the pope, he should remember the seventh commandment,” Mr. Feijóo said, “‘Thou shalt not steal,’ and the eighth commandment, ‘Thou shalt not lie.’”
Speaking to the Spanish Parliament on Monday, under its frescoed dome, Leo appeared to allude to those political divisions.
“It falls to me today to speak a calm and firm word to those who bear the grave responsibility of legally ordering social coexistence,” Leo said, before Mr. Sánchez and all his political enemies.
“Political pluralism should not degenerate into the constant disparagement of one’s adversary,” Leo said, adding, “firmness does not require contempt; disagreement does not entail humiliation.”
He emphasized that he was not trying to wade into politics or stepping over dividing lines between church and state. If anything, the pope seemed careful to keep a foot on both partisan sides. He appealed to conservatives by speaking in defense of “the unborn child” — and to liberals by calling migration a “tragic drama” that challenged the conscience of nations.
He echoed Mr. Sánchez’s slogan of “no war,” by calling for “diplomatic courage” to resolve global disputes with “means offered by international law.”
“It is therefore a cause for concern that, in various parts of the world — and in Europe as well — rearmament is once again being presented as an almost inevitable response to the fragility of the international situation,” Leo said.
When the pope finished, Mr. Sánchez joined the rest of the chamber in a long-standing ovation.
But Luis Argüello, the archbishop of Valladolid and president of the Spanish Bishops Conference, warned Mr. Sánchez and the left against suggesting that “‘the church is closer to us.’”
Spain’s left, the archbishop said in an interview, should apply the church’s teaching to actions “inside our own nation,” including, he said, “on matters relating to corruption.”
Pope in Barcelona: May Christians be builders of unity in a divided world
Upon his arrival in Barcelona, Pope Leo XIV presides over midday prayer at the city's Cathedral, and encourages the Catholic community to be "witnesses and prophets of unity".
Vatican News
The second leg of Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Spain began with midday prayer in Barcelona's Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia.
Arriving straight from the airport, the Pope was greeted by a jubilant crowd, including bishops, canons, diocesan officials, religious, seminarians, cathedral staff, volunteers, and a large number of young people.
Crowds wait for the Pope outside Barcelona's cathedral (@Vatican Media)
Pope Leo entered a side-chapel for a moment of silent prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, before processing down the central nave as the choir sang the opening hymn.
In his homily, which was delivered in a mixture of Spanish and Catalan, the Pope invited the faithful to meditate on two images: the Bride and the Body.
The Church, Pope Leo XIV explained, is first and foremost a “Beloved Bride,” and Barcelona’s Catholic community—with its rich diversity of gifts, charisms, and personal stories—is a testament to this.
“God has willed you to be here,” the Pope said, “because in you and in your being together he loves a unique and sacred beauty and goodness. He has chosen you to represent today the communion of saints that is in Barcelona.”
The Pope emphasized that the Church is “the fruit of an act of love that precedes and comes from God.” This means, he said, that the Church grows above all by allowing herself to be loved by Him, with a humble and grateful heart, “for only those who let themselves be loved by God can build, together with others, the works of love."
Pope Leo reads his homily to those gathered in the cathedral (@Vatican Media)
The body
Pope Leo XIV then turned to reflect on the second image: the Body.
We are all one body with Christ, the Pope observed, and, just as in a body, “there are members who are stronger and others who are weaker”.
Moreover, while some members of the Church “are visible, performing functions that are evident to the outside world,” others are hidden, “working from within — in some cases without ceasing and carrying out vital functions without anyone taking notice.”
In the face of such diversity, the Pope encouraged the faithful to prioritize unity: “We are strong because we are united, and we are united because we are animated by the same Spirit”.
In a world torn by wars and divisions, and in a society that is increasingly fragmented and individualistic, the Pope urged Christians to be ‘martyrs’—that is, he explained, “witnesses and prophets of unity, of welcome, of harmony and of peace, even at the cost of sacrifice and renunciation.”
