The Spanish royal family has been deeply involved in the visit to Spain by Pope Leo XIV. After the reception at the Royal Palace by King Felipe and Queen Letizia and their daughters, the four were present at the Corpus Christi Mass in Plaza de Cibeles. Now it is Queen Sofia’s turn, who will accompany the Holy Father in the prayer and the homage to the Virgin of Almudena to be held at Madrid Cathedral.
This meeting between the Queen Mother and Leo XIV, which will present the Golden Rose to Madrid’s patroness, will mark a new chapter in the long relationship that binds the mother of Felipe VI with the Vatican. A bond dating back as far as 1951. That year, when she was still Princess of Greece, Sofia participated in an audience with Pius XII. It happens that it was the same Pope, while still a cardinal, who officiated the baptism of King Juan Carlos in 1938.
Since then, and over six decades, Queen Sofia has attended enthronements, funerals and canonizations, as well as numerous visits to our country by successive Popes of the Catholic Church. She has done so, moreover, being one of the few monarchs in the world with the right to wear the Privilege of the White before the Holy Pontiff. Along with her, the right to do so can be exercised by Queen Letizia, Maria Teresa of Luxembourg, Charlène of Monaco and Mathilde of Belgium.
Queen Sofia was not present in the Vatican during Pope Francis’s funeral, nor at the inaugural Mass of Leo XIV, which took place in May of last year. That has not prevented her from maintaining a very close relationship with the Holy See, despite having been raised in the Greek Orthodox faith.
Cordiality and Diplomacy
Princess Sofia had to convert to Catholicism before her marriage in 1962. In that regard, the Pope John XXIII played a crucial role in granting the couple the papal dispensation indispensable for their civil and religious marriage to be celebrated in Athens. This gesture sealed the future of the Spanish royal family-to-be. Shortly after marrying, the future kings were received in audience at the Vatican by the Italian pope.
With her accession to the throne, state visits to the Holy See began. The first was on February 10, 1977, when Juan Carlos and Sofia were received by Paul VI. That was the first time that the now Queen Emerita exercised her right to wear white. Just a year later, the couple traveled again to Rome to attend his funeral. Subsequently, and despite the brevity of his papacy, which lasted only 33 days, John Paul I received the kings of Spain. The meeting took place in September 1978, during the formal Mass inaugurating his pontificate.
Queen Sofia and her children, Felipe and Elena, receiving John Paul II in 1982.
It was with John Paul II that Queen Sofia developed the strongest rapport. Her relationship with Karol Wojtyła was very close, with a total of seven official audiences. The Queen hosted the Polish pope during his five pastoral visits to Spain. Among them, the 1982 visit stands out in particular, as it was the pope’s longest stay in a single country. In 2005 she could be seen visibly moved during his funeral in St. Peter’s Square.
From Benedict XVI to Francis
During Benedict XVI’s pontificate, institutional ties were maintained with three key meetings with the kings of Spain. The most important was undoubtedly the 2011 encounter, when Queen Sofia devoted herself to formally receiving and accompanying the German pontiff during the World Youth Day celebration in Madrid. That was the last Papal visit to Spain until the current one of Leo XIV.
The first meeting between Queen Sofia and the Pope Francis took place in April 2014, on the occasion of the joint canonization of John XXIII and John Paul II. The following day, she held a private audience of almost an hour with the Argentine pontiff, one of the longest in his pontificate. They would meet again in 2018 for the canonization of Paul VI. Their last encounter was in January 2023, on the occasion of Benedict XVI’s funeral.
