During his first night in a highly secular city, Pope Leo XIV comforted Catalan youth, framing their inner struggles as an opportunity for rebirth.
The vigil organized around Pope Leo XIV at the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona on Tuesday, June 9, gave the Pontiff an opportunity to encourage a Catholic Church that has less societal influence than in Madrid, where he spent the first three days of his Spanish trip. In an environment marked by religious pluralism and a highly influential atheist current, Pope Leo moved Catalan Catholics by listening to their concerns.
Amid various musical and artistic performances, the Pope’s first evening in Barcelona featured a spectacular and daring demonstration by the castellers. They formed a human pyramid to the cheers of more than 40,000 spectators in the stadium, who were proud to see this Catalan tradition showcased before the Holy Father.
It was perhaps also a way to pay tribute to the physical, moral, and spiritual courage of Catalan Catholics. They are called to stand united against the many destabilizing factors in a society marked by social, ideological, and religious fractures.
A compassionate God
During a touching dialogue with young people, the Pope listened attentively to contemporary struggles, including a loss of meaning, depression, the temptation of suicide, and domestic violence. Faced with harrowing testimonies, the Pope gently invited them to lift their eyes to Jesus.
Leo XIV noted that the increase in the prevalence of mental health issues in societies that “consider themselves advanced” is a “sign that there is something profoundly wrong in a certain idea of growth that subjects people to pressures, expectations, and tensions that compromise their fundamental equilibrium.” Certain “cultural models want us always to be victorious and perfect,” so they hide and silence “fragility and sorrow.”
By contrast, “the Son of God assumes in his own flesh all the anguish, loneliness, and suffering of humanity.” Jesus, through his passion and death on the cross, “shares our pain and reveals to us the face of a compassionate God who bears our sorrows, suffers with us, weeps our tears, and remains by our side with a presence full of love and mercy.”
“Nights” of suffering are opportunities
Everyone passes through moments of darkness, bitterness, fear, and fatigue, he said in his homily. These “nights” are a part of our faith journey that strip us of the “masks” we wear in our human relationships and faith life, revealing who we really are and helping us become humble again. They take us “beyond the presumption of thinking that we know that our path is already complete and that we are going forward as if we had bright clarity regarding everything, everyone, and even about God.”
Thus, they give us the opportunity to “receive new life, change and be renewed, to be reborn from on high.” Understanding this, he added, we shouldn’t judge ourselves, others, the Church, or society when they are passing through such a night. Instead, we should continue to “open ourselves to the wind of the Spirit to welcome the night not as a sign of failure but as the beginning of a new life.”
Alive and welcoming
Diego, a philosophy student in Barcelona, says it was a very emotional day for him. He sees the Pope’s visit as a historic moment for the city and a valuable opportunity to share a message of hope, equality, and justice in a world he views as increasingly fragmented.
Diego acknowledges that Barcelona isn’t always an easy environment for Catholics. As a cosmopolitan city marked by diverse cultures and religions, it often relegates faith to the private sphere. Yet, he rejects the idea of a Church in decline.
“The Church in Barcelona exists, and it’s alive,” he says. He highlights the dynamism of parishes, associations, and the numerous initiatives that continue to animate local religious life. In his eyes, despite societal changes, faith remains deeply rooted in the city’s history and culture.
Pope Leo XIV spoke during the vigil about the experience of rediscovering the faith in a secularized environment. “Amid the joys, successes and failures, we realize that we need a different water to satiate us more profoundly. Our desire for truth and happiness needs a bigger horizon,” he explained. “We’re made for the infinite, and because of that, every limited horizon [...] pushes us forwards and invites us to keep looking,” he said, but especially “going into the depths” of our interior.
This search requires taking time to read the Gospels and pray, and exploring our faith journey along with other “people who, like us, have undertaken this path.”
The Latin American factor
Paula is a Nicaraguan who has lived in Barcelona for 20 years. The day was especially emotional for her because her Peruvian husband is a compatriot of the Pope. “This is the second pope I’ve seen in my life. I’d already met Pope Francis in Peru, and today I’m here to see Pope Leo. It’s an immense joy, a profound emotion,” she explained.
Coming from a country where the current government persecutes Catholics, Paula feels completely free to practice her faith in Spain. She emphasizes the importance of the Latin American community in the life of the region’s parishes.
As a member of the Parish of Our Lady of the Forsaken in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, she traveled to the stadium with a group of parishioners to hear “the message the pope will bring to our lives and to the entire Catholic community living here in Barcelona.”
A little further away, Leonardo shared that “Christians are experiencing this moment with a lot of joy.” Welcoming the pope is “a source of pride for all Catalans,” he added. After generously offering his water bottle to this reporter, who was showing some signs of fatigue, Leonardo concluded the exchange with a vibrant, “Long live Jesus!”
During this remarkable vigil, Catalan Catholics sought to make Jesus alive and welcoming to everyone — even by giving water to those who are thirsty.
