The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, is scheduled to participate both in the visit of Pope Leo XIV to the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and in the event that the pontiff will hold in the Congress of Deputies, in Madrid, as part of his apostolic journey to Spain in early June. In that prior trip to Rome, a meeting with the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, is also not ruled out.
Initially, it was contemplated that Sánchez and the pontiff would hold a single meeting on Monday, June 8, at the headquarters of the Apostolic Nunciature in the capital, but government sources indicate that the head of the Executive will also lead the Government's delegation at these two events.
After his visit to Madrid and Barcelona, Leo XIV will travel to the Canary Islands, a stage focused on the migration arriving at the islands, where the Executive trusts that the harmony between the Pope's vision on this phenomenon and that of the Government will become evident.
The Executive defends an open and welcoming Europe and maintains that there is a clear convergence with the position held by Leo XIV. Although they do not foresee explicit support from the pontiff for concrete measures such as the regularization of migrants, they consider that the very design of the trip, with stops in Gran Canaria and Tenerife and, in particular, in a symbolic enclave for the arrival of migrants such as the port of Arguineguín, reflects the Holy See's interest in this issue. They also recall that the Spanish Episcopal Conference had been demanding attention to this reality and has supported regularization.
Five Recent Agreements with the Holy See
Next week, as a prelude to Francis Prevost's trip to Spain, Sánchez will travel to Rome, where he will be received in a private audience by the Pope at the Holy See on Wednesday, May 27, and will also meet with the Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin.
During this visit, according to government sources, a meeting with Meloni on Tuesday, May 26, is being considered, still pending confirmation while both executives work to finalize it.
In Moncloa, they emphasize that Sánchez arrives at the Vatican in a particularly favorable context for relations and cooperation between Spain and the Holy See, following the five agreements reached in recent years, which, in the Government's opinion, have allowed for the channeling of issues that generated significant social concern.
Among those milestones they cite the exhumation of the dictator Francisco Franco from the Valle de los Caídos; the re-signification of this enclave as Cuelgamuros; the recognition by the Conferencia Episcopal of nearly 1,000 registered properties whose ownership does not belong to the Church; the pact to eliminate two tax exemptions from which only the Iglesia católica benefited compared to other entities and, finally, the agreement to compensate the victims of sexual abuse.
International agenda and artificial intelligence
In the conversation between Sánchez and the Pope, it is expected that they will address the efforts to advance towards peace in Oriente Próximo, with its dimensions in Irán, Palestina and El Líbano, as well as the war in Ucrania. In the Executive, they recall that El Vaticano acts as a diplomatic power with an active role in various peace processes.
Likewise, the Government follows with special interest the pontiff's first encyclical, which will see the light next Monday and will be dedicated to artificial intelligence, so it is not ruled out that this matter will occupy part of the meeting.
Beyond the audience at the Santa Sede, Sánchez will take advantage of his stay in Roma to intervene in the Nutrition week, specifically in a high-level event on food security and the impact of the conflict in Oriente Medio and the closure of the Strait of Ormuz.
The Italian capital hosts the headquarters of three United Nations organizations linked to this field: the Organización para la Agricultura y la Alimentación (FAO), the Programa Mundial de Alimentos and the Fondo Internacional de Desarrollo Agrícola (FIDA).