The pope in Spain: how much clout does he have?
Pope Leo XIV began a week-long visit to Spain on Saturday. More than a million people attended his Corpus Christi mass in Madrid on Sunday, during which he called for greater commitment to justice and solidarity among peoples. Commentators in the national press discuss what role the Church and its head can play in today's world.
Political and religious message
For El Mundo, the voice of the Church should hold more sway again:
“Leo XIV's visit to Spain has taken on dimensions that go far beyond a mere pastoral trip. From Madrid, the Pope is sending a political and a religious message, reaffirming the aim of his young pontificate: to restore the Church's influential voice in public debates and to show that the Catholic faith does not belong in a museum, but retains its appeal, its social roots and its moral authority in a secularised Europe. … Leo XIV has come to remind us that faith must not be reduced to a private identity or a political tool. On the contrary: its challenge is to speak to everyone without allowing itself to be co-opted.”
A secular country in search of meaning
Political scientist Anna López Ortega writes in eldiario.es:
“The Spain that is now welcoming the pope is probably the most secular it has been in centuries, both socially and institutionally. Pedro Sánchez's governments have expanded the state's religious neutrality. Advances have been made that would have been unthinkable just a few decades ago: religion has been scaled back as a school subject, sexual abuse within the Church has been investigated, and property registered in the Church's name has been reclaimed. … While religious practice is declining, the need for moral guidance is growing. … Spain is less Catholic than ever before, but, like most other Western democracies, it also seems to be more in need of meaning than it has been in a decade.”