BARCELONA, Spain — Pope Leo XIV will hold Mass at Barcelona’s iconic La Sagrada Familia on Wednesday where he will offer a papal blessing to the highest spire of what is now the tallest church in the world.
Sagrada Familia’s distinctive Modernist basilica has been under construction for more than 140 years but, in February, work finally finished on the central Tower of Jesus Christ, which stands at 566 feet high and is crowned with a gigantic five-story ceramic cross.
The Mass in Barcelona will be a capstone of Leo’s weeklong visit to Spain, his first significant European trip since being elected pontiff last year and the first papal trip to the predominantly Catholic nation in 15 years.
Although rates of church attendance have declined sharply in Spain — like much of Western Europe — the Vatican said that around 1.2 million people turned out on the streets of Madrid on Sunday as the pontiff presided over a vast outdoor Mass.
On Monday, Leo became the first pontiff to address the Spanish parliament, warning lawmakers that military conflict and political polarization were pushing the world into “a profound spiritual and cultural crisis.”
He also spoke out against Europe’s ramped-up defense spending — which is rising in response to Russia’s four-year war in Ukraine and the Trump administration’s criticism of NATO — and called on European governments instead to spend their money on peacemaking initiatives and helping the needy.
“Weapons can impose a temporary silence, but they can never build an authentic and lasting peace,” he said.
At both events, he spoke almost exclusively in Spanish as he will for most of his trip, although he is expected to make some comments in Catalan, the predominant language in Catalonia, the autonomous region in northeastern Spain where Barcelona is located.
The pope’s visit to Sagrada Familia is timed to coincide with the centenary of the death of the man who first imagined it: the legendary Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí. After his death, Gaudi’s distinctive architectural style, often incorporating naturalistic, playful elements seen in sites such as Park Guell, came to define Barcelona.
Gaudí took over the construction of Sagrada Familia in 1883 determined to build a towering monument of Catholic faith, but with a shape and texture unlike any other church at the time.
His work was far from finished when he was struck by a tram and killed June 10, 1926. Gaudí, a committed Catholic, was known for wearing ragged clothes and did not immediately receive medical attention because onlookers mistook him for a beggar.
The vision for Sagrada Familia has long outlived the visionary and work has continued over the century since his death, with planners hoping to finally complete the vast basilica by 2034. Foreigners, whose entrance fees fund its construction, account for 90% of today’s visitors and more Americans visit than Spaniards, according to the basilica.
Mauricio Cortés, a Mexican architect, is among the generations of builders charged with completing Gaudí’s work. His task was among the most delicate: assembling the giant 24-ton cross that now tops the Tower of Jesus Christ.
In an interview with NBC News at Sagrada Família in December, Cortés said he had strived to stay true to Gaudí’s plans while also incorporating a century’s worth of advancements in building materials and techniques.
“Gaudí wanted the cross to resemble a crystal. The choice of materials includes pyramids in ceramic and pyramids in polished glass,” Cortés said. “It’s high technology to stay true to the original vision.”
Gaudí is sometimes referred to as “God’s architect” and it appears the Catholic Church may have a legacy in mind for him that goes beyond Sagrada Família and his other iconic buildings across Barcelona.
In one of Pope Francis’ final acts before his death in May 2025, he declared the Catalan architect to be a “venerable” Christian in recognition of his “heroic virtues.” The designation is the first step on the official path to sainthood.
Like his predecessor, Leo has maintained an emphasis on the dignity of migrants at a time of anti-immigration backlash in the United States and many European nations.
The final leg of Leo’s trip to Spain will be a visit to the Canary Islands to meet African migrants who made the dangerous journey by boat to reach Spanish territory. More than 3,000 people died attempting the journey last year, according to Caminando Fronteras, a Spanish humanitarian group.
In his address to Spain’s parliament, Leo called for European countries to look beyond “the mere management” of immigration flows” and look for durable solutions to war, poverty, climate change and other factors that drive people to leave their home nations.
“The moral greatness of a nation is manifested above all in its capacity to accompany, protect and love those lives that pass through the greatest fragility,” he said.
