The institutional agenda begins to feel the impact of the announcement that, last February, confirmed the long-awaited Pope Leo XIV‘s visit to Spain. In reality, the Catholic community in our country had yearned for a papal visit for years and had repeatedly asked Pope Francis for it. He, however, did not set foot in our country during his twelve years as pope. Thus, the last time a pope walked on Spanish soil was 2011, with Benedict XVI’s third visit in his six-year pontificate.
With the confirmation that the Pope will visit Spain, meetings are being accelerated that will serve as a prologue to a long-awaited visit. It will take place between June 6 and 12 this year, six days in which Leo XIV will visit Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands. The three stops carry different purposes: the 60th anniversary celebration of the Episcopal Conference, a visit to the Sagrada Família, and an emphasis on the migrant crisis.
Although Leo XIV’s concrete schedule in Spain is not yet confirmed, we can suppose that his stop in Madrid will be especially intense, also because a meeting with the younger parishioners and a large Mass has already been announced. We still do not know whether Canary Island and Catalan public representatives will attend the Vatican, but Isabel Díaz Ayuso already has her trip to Rome scheduled, with a papal audience included.
Isabel Díaz Ayuso’s trip to the Vatican will take place on June 1, shortly before the Pontiff’s apostolic journey to Spain begins. According to the Community of Madrid, this is a meeting requested by the head of the Madrid regional government to show her willingness for Madrid to be a success and to carry “the best memory”. And she added: “It is an opportunity for the world to know the way of living, the respect and the faith that is breathed in a region like Madrid, where everyone has his or her place.”
Letizia will meet the Pope for the second time
Long before receiving Isabel Díaz Ayuso in a private audience (and at 9 in the morning), the Pope will receive a higher-ranking Spanish delegation: led by the kings Felipe and Letizia. The meeting will take place this very week, Friday March 10, and it will be the first official encounter after the ceremonial greeting that followed the opening Mass of his pontificate, in May 2025. We all remember the impressive images of St. Peter’s Square filled with heads of state and monarchs, among them the queens who hold the so-called ‘white privilege’.
Isabel Díaz Ayuso, con el papa Francisco en el Vaticano, en 2023.
Indeed: it is expected that Queen Letizia will make use of her privilege of wearing white in the presence of the Pope, a privilege held by the Catholic Crowns (Spain and Belgium) and the two European Principalities, Luxembourg and Monaco. This privilege is intended to distinguish royal houses that maintained their support for the Pope in Rome during the Protestant Reformation. The rest of the women, whether housewives, heads of state, or aristocrats, must dress in black when visiting the Pope.
The agenda of King Felipe and Queen Letizia in Rome includes other events, in addition to the audience with Pope Leo XIV. After this official encounter, the Kings will go to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore where Felipe VI will assume the title of Honorary Protonotary of the temple. This is a distinction tied to the Spanish monarchs for centuries, connecting the Spanish monarchy with one of the four great papal basilicas of Rome.
The Crown’s connection to Catholic Rome
The appointment is symbolic and does not entail religious duties, but it recognizes the special devotion of the Spanish: indeed, in 1982 John Paul II described Spain as the “land of Mary.” Such devotion is manifested in the wooden coffered ceiling of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, partly gilded with the first gold brought from the Americas by Christopher Columbus, which was donated by the Catholic Monarchs to Pope Alexander I.
Until the appointment of King Felipe as Honorary Protonotary of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, such honor is held by King Emeritus Juan Carlos. He assumed it in 1977 with the same honors and obligations that his son will have: Felipe VI will have a special chair reserved in the choir of the basilica. The cathedral chapter, for its part, takes on the duty to pray for the health and soul of the Spanish monarchs. And to the King is formally recognized the role of protector of the temple.
