Pope Leo XIV calls for ‘examination of conscience’ on migrants at Canary Islands port
ARGUINEGUÍN, Canary Islands — Pope Leo XIV on Thursday called for an “examination of conscience” on migration during a visit to the port of Arguineguín in Spain’s Canary Islands, a site that became a symbol of the collapse of migration management in 2020.
The small fishing port on the southwest coast of Gran Canaria was once dubbed the “dock of shame” after more than 2,600 migrants were left crowded outdoors there for weeks six years ago, many sleeping on rough concrete after crossing the Atlantic in fragile boats from Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Morocco, and parts of the Sahara.
On June 11, Leo turned the site into what many present described as a dock of hope.
“It is not enough to manage arrivals, distribute figures, reinforce borders, or mourn the dead once they have already died,” the pope said.
Human dignity, he said, “requires legal and safe routes, rescue and assistance, real cooperation against traffickers, effective protection for victims, serious processes of welcome and integration, and policies that allow each person to live with dignity in his or her own land.”
The Canary Islands marked the final stop of Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Spain and one of its most symbolically charged moments. Migration remains an open wound in Europe and beyond, and Arguineguín has long stood as one of its most visible scars.
“This tragedy must become an examination of conscience,” the pope said.
Leo directed his appeal to several audiences. Countries of origin, he said, “must create conditions of peace, justice, and development.” Countries of transit, he added, must “not leave the weak in the hands of criminal networks.”
He also addressed Europe directly, saying it “cannot proclaim human dignity and grow accustomed to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic becoming cemeteries without headstones.” The international community, he said, is called to “effective and persevering cooperation.”
The Church, too, “must allow herself to be challenged,” the pope said. “Welcoming the migrant cannot be something secondary or delegated only to a few volunteers.”
The pope also offered a direct message to ordinary Catholics.
“We kneel before the altar to adore Christ present in the Eucharist, from whom we receive the strength and the reason to live charity,” he said. “Therefore, we cannot then ‘pass by’ the cayucos and pateras, because from prayer all service flows and to it every commitment returns.”
The pope invoked the biblical figures of Leviathan and Rahab to describe the “monsters that lurk in these seas: mafias that traffic in despair, traffickers who enslave women and children, and the indifference of many who allow the poor to be swallowed up by exploitation or oblivion.”
But faith, he said, “does not remain paralyzed before the power of the sea.”
“We believe in a God who subdues chaos, sets limits to evil, and opens a path when death seems to prevail,” Leo said.
Where Christ “commands the sea to be silent,” he added, “the Church cannot remain silent before those who are abandoned to its waters.”
The pope said conversion begins when “the migrant stops being just one more person, stops being a category and a number.”
Leo’s visit to the Canary Islands was one Pope Francis had wanted to make but was unable to carry out. Leo delivered a message echoing the one Francis brought to Lampedusa in 2013. Leo is also scheduled to visit the Italian island on July 4, the day the United States marks 250 years since its founding.
“We cannot grow accustomed to counting the dead,” Leo said. “Human dignity has no passport and does not lose its value when crossing a border.”
In a speech interrupted several times by applause, the pope asked that history “not have to accuse us of having turned the pain of those who suffer into the usual landscape of our coasts.”
Before speaking, Leo listened to several testimonies from people close to the migration crisis.
Tito Villarmea, captain of the maritime rescue vessel Urania, said that in 18 years he has helped rescue more than 20,000 people — “a number that hurts and is not forgotten.”
Although irregular arrivals by sea have fallen sharply this year — down about 35% from the previous year — rescue operations have continued, many in extreme conditions. According to Spain’s Interior Ministry, 10,224 migrants arrived irregularly in Spain from Jan. 1 to May 31, down 35.2% from 15,769 during the same period last year. Irregular land entries into Ceuta and Melilla rose 210% to 2,366 people.
Villarmea recalled one rescue involving a mother traveling in a small boat with her child, surrounded by wounded people and lifeless bodies.
“Once safely on board, the woman approached the child, about 14 years old, took off the cap and jacket, and pulled out some gold earrings to put them on,” he said. “It was a girl. She cried and I cried, because I am the father of two teenagers.”
María Reyes Alemán, a Caritas volunteer, also addressed the pope, describing her work accompanying migrants amid the humanitarian crisis.
“We learned that it was not about solving everything, but about being present,” she said, explaining that small gestures such as a smile or a look can also communicate hope.
Another powerful testimony came from Blessing, a Nigerian woman and trafficking survivor who was not present for security reasons. In a letter read aloud, she recounted leaving Nigeria at age 22, leaving behind her two daughters. When the time came to cross the sea, she said, she saw people who had departed before her group that same day drown.
“The mafia took me to a place where they performed a ritual, the ‘juju,’” she said. “They told me I had a debt of 25,000 euros that I had to pay when I arrived in Europe.”
During six months of captivity, she became pregnant by a man connected to the trafficking network.
“When I arrived in Spain, they took my baby away from me to force me into prostitution,” she said. Her forced enslavement ended when her son was 11 months old and police arrested those holding her captive. She said the Church helped her rebuild her life.
Leo also warned migrants like Blessing not to trust those who exploit hopes for a better future.
“Do not believe those who promise easy paradises in exchange for your body, your money, your silence, or your freedom,” he said.
Such false promises, he said, are “siren songs” and “industries of death.”
The pope also mentioned El Hierro, the least populated of the Canary Islands, which has become a major arrival point for migrants, with more than 50,000 irregular arrivals since 2020. The peak came in 2024, with nearly 30,000 arrivals.
The island’s treatment by authorities has prompted frustration from local officials, including Alpidio Armas, the socialist president of the island council, who did not attend the pope’s events.
El Hierro, Leo said, “has seen thousands of people arrive, torn from their land and entrusted to the fragility of a cayuco.”
There, he said, “there are people recovered from the sea and lifeless bodies rescued from the waters.” For that reason, “the successor of Peter cannot turn away from these docks.”
The event concluded with a floral offering in memory of the victims of migration by sea, a symbolic gesture at a place that has become an emblem of suffering but also of solidarity.
The pope then went to a nearby image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, patroness of sailors, where he blessed a cross erected as a permanent memorial to those who never reached their destination.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
National Eucharistic Pilgrimage brings Christ through rainy streets of historic Baltimore
BALTIMORE — About 300 Catholics gathered at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Wednesday, June 10, for Mass and a Eucharistic procession through downtown Baltimore as the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage’s St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Route continued through the nation’s first Catholic diocese.
Following the morning Mass, pilgrims processed several blocks in the rain from the basilica to Baltimore’s Washington Monument, one of the city’s most recognizable civic landmarks, praying and singing as they accompanied the Blessed Sacrament through the city’s historic streets.
The Baltimore stop is part of the 2026 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which is traveling under the theme “One Nation Under God” as the United States prepares to mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
In his homily, Monsignor Jay O’Connor reflected on the meaning of pilgrimage and the public witness of carrying the Eucharist through cities, towns, highways, and waterways across the country.
“This National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which is of Jesus through the streets and the highways and the plains and the waterways of our country, brings the blessing of the real presence of Jesus into the heart and soul of our fellow citizens and our country,” he said.
The basilica, completed in 1821, is the first cathedral constructed in the United States. It was built under the leadership of Bishop John Carroll, the first bishop of the United States, making the Baltimore stop a significant moment for a pilgrimage moving through many of the original 13 colonies during the nation’s semiquincentennial year.
O’Connor said pilgrimage is not meant to be easy, citing St. John Paul II’s teaching that God uses the challenges of the journey to form his people.
“Through the challenges of the journey, God forms us into the people he calls us to be — a community of missionary disciples,” he said.
The celebrant also recalled a previous Eucharistic procession in Baltimore, when a man came out of his home and asked what was happening as the procession passed through his neighborhood.
“One pilgrim responded, ‘Jesus is walking through your neighborhood,’” he said. “The man asked, ‘Can I join you?’ And he was invited to walk the rest of the way with the pilgrims. That’s what a pilgrimage is.”
For the perpetual pilgrims accompanying the Eucharist along the Cabrini route, the journey has included long days of travel, prayer, public witness, and constant movement.
“It’s been very busy,” said John Paul Flynn, one of the perpetual pilgrims. “But it’s through that busyness, I think, that you start to lean more into it and lean more into the graces that are there.”
He said the experience of traveling with the Blessed Sacrament has been unlike anything else.
“Getting to be with Jesus all the time is a really unique experience,” he said, noting that the pilgrims even have adoration in the van as they travel.
The pilgrimage was scheduled to continue through Maryland with stops in Severna Park and Annapolis before crossing the Chesapeake Bay by boat to Kent Island and the Diocese of Wilmington.
The Cabrini route is named for St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, the Italian-born missionary sister who became the first U.S. citizen to be canonized a saint. Cabrini dedicated her life to serving immigrants, orphans, the sick, and the poor, founding schools, hospitals, and orphanages across the United States and beyond.
The route began over Memorial Day weekend in St. Augustine, Florida, and is traveling north along the Eastern Seaboard before concluding in Philadelphia over Independence Day weekend.
Pope Leo XIV prayed with this young man’s rosary in Barcelona — and gave it back
Sergi, a young Catalan man, was surprised by an encounter with Pope Leo XIV in Spain on June 10 he will never forget.
During the pope’s visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Montserrat, an abbey northwest of Barcelona, Sergi handed Leo his rosary. The pontiff slipped it into his pocket before using it minutes later to pray.
Unexpectedly, the story did not end there — after the event, Sergi managed to recover his prized sacramental, now prayed with by the pope.
Sergi (who asked that his last name not be shared) told EWTN News he had not planned to go to the shrine on the day of the papal visit. He is from Terrassa, a city between Barcelona and Montserrat.
The invitation to go to the popeʼs prayer came unexpectedly through a volunteer with the Missionaries of Charity, connected to his youth group, who encouraged both him and his girlfriend, María, to join the gathering. The night before, they attended the pope’s event at the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona and returned so tired that they almost decided not to go again.
However, they felt they could not miss the chance to see Pope Leo during his visit to their homeland, and in order to attend they both had to take the day off from work. They never imagined what would happen or the gift they would receive.
Sergi, María, and their friend secured a spot in the atrium of the basilica, and when the pope arrived, Sergi managed to get very close to the mini-popemobile as it passed by. At that moment he took out his rosary, hoping it would be blessed.
“I just wanted him to bless it, that’s all, but he asked me, ‘Is it for me?’ And I’m not going to say no, so of course I said yes, and he kept it,” the young man said.
Indeed, in a video recorded by EWTN News, the pope can be seen taking the rosary and putting it in his pocket. A few minutes later, to the young couple’s total surprise, they saw the pope praying with Sergi’s rosary in his hands.
“When we saw it on the screen, we realized it was the same one he was using to pray!” Sergi said.
But the story did not end there. María had the idea of trying to get the rosary back, and when the event ended, they tried. However, the pope was already in the official car, and the security caravan would not allow anyone to approach.
“We tried to tell him, but he just passed us by,” Sergi told EWTN News.
At that moment, the run of his life began. Montserrat, as its name suggests, is set on a mountain range, so he had to run downhill.
“I ran the whole way down until I said, ‘Well, let the pope keep it,’ and I gave up, but my girlfriend told me, ‘Keep trying.’”
So Sergi started running again, sprinting and shouting to the pope to give it back. Knowing the caravan could not stop, he took an extreme measure: asking the pope to throw it to him.
“At that moment I wasn’t thinking — I just knew I wanted to get the rosary back, knowing the pope had prayed with it. I was overwhelmed with excitement by the moment and the situation.”
The pope granted his request, tossing the rosary from the car window as he drove by. Then, with the help of a police officer, Sergi recovered his rosary, now prayed with by the pope.
“We went without expecting anything, and we came back with the greatest gift we could have received,” the young man said, still moved by the experience.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
PHOTOS: Pope Leo XIV holds prayer vigil, visits prison, says Mass at historic basilica in Barcelona
Pope Leo XIV continued his historic visit to Spain on June 10 with a whirlwind series of events in Barcelona including a visit to a penitentiary and Mass at the famed Sagrada Familia Basilica.
The Holy Father will now depart mainland Europe and visit the Canary Islands off the coast of Spain, finishing his trip on June 12 before returning to Rome.
Here is a look at what Pope Leo XIV has been up to in Barcelona:
At FIFA 2026 World Cup, abortion survivors to share their stories
Faces of Choice founder Lyric Gillett awoke in the middle of the night with an idea she would later describe as “a dream filled with faces.”
She hastily scribbled the concept and script that would eventually become a commercial that is set to reach large crowds at the FIFA 2026 World Cup.
“It felt as though I had been handed a glimpse of people whose stories had yet to be told,” Gillett told EWTN News. “I wrote everything down immediately.”
Gillett’s idea was about encounter — giving people the chance to encounter the survivors of abortion.
“Again and again, Christ revealed truth through encounter,” Gillett said. “He met people face-to-face. He restored sight not only to the blind but to those who could see physically while remaining blind to deeper realities.”
Gillett’s nonprofit, Faces of Choice, is scheduled to run a series of advertisements during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will reach global audiences. The ads give abortion survivors a chance to speak and be heard.
“My hope is that when the world sees these men and women, something deeper than opinion will be awakened,” Gillett said. “Not because people hear a new argument, but because they find a human being looking back at them.”
Truth through encounter
“At its heart, Faces of Choice is an invitation to encounter,” Gillett said. “We exist to help people see what has too often remained unseen: that behind every discussion about abortion stands a human being made in the image of God, with a name, a face, and a story.”
“The doctrine of the Imago Dei is not merely a theological concept. It is a reality that demands recognition,” Gillett said. “Every human life possesses an inherent dignity that is not earned, granted by society, or dependent upon circumstance. It is bestowed by God himself.”
“For me, this work is not only about defending life,” Gillett said. “It is about restoring visibility to people whose humanity has too often been denied, and inviting both the Church and the world to see them.”
Gillett originally had an advertisement set to play at the Super Bowl in 2020 — but just days before the game, the advertisement was blocked from airing.
“What seemed like a closed door opened an expanse to an enormous gateway — one that has ultimately led us toward the threshold of introducing abortion survivors to the world through the 2026 FIFA World Cup, one of the largest audiences in human history, with projected viewership in the billions,” Gillett said.
Faces of Choice’s motto can be summed up in a simple phrase, Gillett said: “‘Choice’ is not merely a word. ‘Choice’ is a person.”
Finally heard: Abortion survivors speak
Gillett takes inspiration from Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr., who “helped reveal the full humanity and dignity of African Americans in a society that had too often ignored both,” she said.
“Most cultural debates eventually reach a point where arguments alone stop stirring hearts,” Gillett said. “Historyʼs great turning points often occur when people come face-to-face with those whose humanity can no longer be denied.”
“Abortion survivors occupy a uniquely powerful place in this conversation, because their very existence reveals a reality many people have never considered,” Gillett said.
Hope Hoffman survived a dilation and curettage abortion at 10 and a half weeks' gestation, about three months of pregnancy.
“She bears a visible scar on her head from where the abortion instrument cut into and crushed her skull,” Gillett said. “Today she lives with cerebral palsy, yet she radiates joy, courage, a profound appreciation for life, and hope.”
“When someone looks into the eyes of a survivor and realizes, ‘I never knew people like this existed,’ something changes,” she said. “When they understand that saying ‘I supported your mother’s choice’ to a survivor of abortion means the person before them would cease to exist in the success of that ‘choice,’ the conversation moves from argument to conscience.”
Hoffman shared her thoughts, saying: “I became very upset while thinking about how some people say that an unborn child is not a person.”
“Being small, different, or not yet born doesnʼt change who you are,” Gillett recalled Hoffman saying. “I know this better than most."
Another abortion survivor, Imre Téglásy of Hungary, survived multiple abortion attempts in 1952.
Gillett described him as “remarkable.”
“Since then, he has gone on to help save over 50,000 babies from abortion throughout Europe, raise a large family of his own, and devote himself to serving women and children in need,” Gillett said.
“What stands out most is not simply survival," Gillett said. “It is what many survivors have done with the lives they were nearly denied.”
“I have met survivors who live with significant physical disabilities, survivors who endured lifelong medical complications, survivors who have wrestled with profound emotional wounds, and survivors who have experienced extraordinary forgiveness and spiritual healing,” she continued. “There is a recurring theme among most of them: gratitude, forgiveness, resilience, and purpose. Many see their lives not merely as lives that were spared but as ones entrusted with a mission.”
“What is heartbreaking is how often they have remained unseen,” Gillett said. “What is transformative is what happens when they are finally heard.”
A century later, Pope Leo XIV fulfills Gaudí’s dream
One of the historic milestones of Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Spain was the opportunity to realize Antoni Gaudí’s dream: the inauguration and blessing of the Tower of Jesus Christ, coinciding exactly with the centenary of the great architect’s death.
“God’s architect” died leaving behind a vast legacy of art and devotion visible throughout Barcelona — like an open-air Gospel sculpted in stone.
The spectacular central spire — crowned by a white cross that makes the basilica the tallest in the world and which will be open to visitors starting in 2028 — is undoubtedly one of them.
The celebration marked the conclusion of Leo’s visit to Barcelona before he travels Thursday to two of the Canary Islands — Tenerife and Las Palmas — where the pope will address the suffering of migrants who risk their lives on the Atlantic route in search of a better future.
After Mass, Leo XIV stepped outside to bless and inaugurate the Tower of Jesus Christ — a beautiful ceremony in which the pope, rather than simply putting his stamp on a finished work, charted a course for Christians.
“The Sagrada Família is the tallest church in the world — not to stand out in worldly rankings, but to guide the steps of God’s people journeying through this land of Catalonia, with the cross illuminating the path like a lamp lit in anticipation of the Bridegroom’s return,” he affirmed.
As he has done since setting foot in Spain on Saturday, June 6, the pope delivered a message of unity and harmony.
“The entire city of Barcelona and all of Catalonia gather in this temple — itself a sign of unity and harmony for all of Spain — and lift their gaze to encounter the face of God the Father, resplendent in his son made man, Jesus Christ,” he explained at the altar of the basilica consecrated by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010, noting that it stands as a visible sign of the invisible God.
The pope thus called for eyes to be raised toward the Tower of Jesus Christ and toward that inimitable masterpiece, the Sagrada Família.
Scripture, he said, “teaches us that it is not we who give God a place, as if he were an element in a series or part of a whole greater than himself.”
“Rather, it is God who gives us a place, and the place he gives us is his own heart: the place of the Son, for us who were strangers; the place of the Beloved, for us who are sinners,” he declared.
Like a shepherd guiding his flock in the teachings of the Church, the pope continued his interpretation of the Gospel — specifically, the passage where the Lord tells the Pharisees: “If you do not believe that ‘I AM,’ you will die in your sins.”
“Strong words,” the pope remarked, clarifying “that they are by no means threats or blackmail.”
“They are an invitation to salvation — a call to freedom from Christ, who desires our ultimate, eternal good,” he said. In the face of the threat of evil, “the Lord is always with us, always on our side.”
He then uttered one of the most powerful statements of the trip: “Dear brothers and sisters, we cannot believe in Jesus and promote war. We cannot believe in Jesus and kill the innocent. We cannot believe in Jesus and abandon those who suffer, those who weep, and those fleeing from misery.”
Before celebrating the Eucharist, he went down to the crypt to pray and lay a floral offering where the remains of the architect — whom Pope Francis declared venerable in 2025 — rest. Seeing him pray at the tomb served as further encouragement for the cause of the virtuous life of the architect — who died a century ago on this very day — to eventually be inscribed in the Church’s book of saints.
This was one of the most moving moments, as neither John Paul II nor Benedict XVI visited the tomb during their own visits to the basilica.
The foundation stone of the Sagrada Familia was laid in 1882; for 144 years, it has grown alongside Barcelona — and alongside Gaudí himself, up until the day of his death.
The pope’s presence here represents more than just a tour of a work of breathtaking beauty; it carries an eloquence that transcends its commemorative significance. Few works like the Sagrada Familia so powerfully convey that beauty is not a secondary adornment of faith, but rather a way of making God visible.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
‘I’m still on cloud nine,’ says pilot who shared cockpit with Pope Leo XIV
Since the time Ángeles Hernández discovered her calling to become a pilot after boarding a Boeing 747 as a child bound for a visit to England, she never imagined that, decades later, she would sit in the cockpit of an Iberia airplane flying the successor of St. Peter from Madrid to Barcelona.
During takeoff, the pope was invited to the cockpit, where they shared an exchange she said she will never forget.
“I think I’m still beside myself ... I’m still on cloud nine. I’ve hardly had time to stop and pray, and I believe this is something you process through prayer because otherwise it doesn’t sink in the same way,” the 33-year-old pilot told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, just a day after an experience she said she will always cherish in her heart.
The woman from Extremadura, Spain, said it hasnʼt yet fully sunk in and that she still needs to “bring down to earth” the emotions she experienced on the afternoon of June 9, when Pope Leo XIV sat with her and pilot Pablo Martínez in the cockpit.
She said she feels “blessed” and attributed the event to “God’s ways.” She also recalled a conversation with a nun from the Eucharistic Sisters of Nazareth, for whom she holds great affection: “I told her I didn’t know if I deserved something like this, and she replied that it was the Lord’s way of telling me he loved me.”
The video of Hernández with Pope Leo in the cockpit has gone viral around the world.
It shows the pontiff clearly enjoying the experience. “I do think he really enjoyed the flight,” she said. “He mentioned that it was his first time taking off [while in the cockpit] and he asked us technical questions, such as what temperature the engines reach upon startup. He was very curious, and we explained the operation [of the plane] to him as we went along.”
Martinez, the other pilot, told the pope he is a Real Madrid soccer team fan and had enjoyed the popeʼs allusion the day before to the “spectacular goal” scored for the Church in Madrid. The pope jokingly replied that he’s also a “White” (referring to the nickname for Real Madrid fans) and added that one has to “be careful” in Barcelona, given the traditional rivalry between the Real team and Barça (the Barcelona team).
During the journey, the plane carrying the pope was escorted by two Spanish Air Force F-18 fighter jets. At one point during the flight, the cockpit crew made contact with the military pilots.
Hernández said the pope “didn’t hesitate for a moment to put on the headset and pick up the microphone” to speak with Commander López of the Zaragoza Squadron. “It was a unique experience,” she recalled, with feeling.
Hernández also had the opportunity to ask the Holy Father to pray for her family’s intentions and, more broadly, for all families in Spain: “For all their concerns, their intentions, and the illnesses borne in silence, and also for those who care for the sick.”
She also asked him for a blessing for many of her friends and family members.
“The pope told me to let them know they have his blessing and that he is praying for them. I’ll never forget those words — they are truly a gift,” she said.
Although the years of training and the journey to becoming a pilot haven’t always been easy, Hernández stated with conviction: “It’s a matter of putting things in God’s hands and saying, ‘Let’s give it our all; if you are with me, we’ll make it.’
She said faith is an immense gift she received from her parents and grandparents, who were the ones responsible for sowing that initial seed. Over the years, she explained, that seed has been “watered” thanks to many people she has met along the way.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Peruvian boy whose family struggles to make ends meet asks pope why bad things happen
In Barcelona’s Raval — a lively neighborhood where more than half the population is of migrant origin — joy palpably filled the streets on Wednesday.
Before celebrating Mass on June 10 at Barcelonaʼs iconic Sagrada Familia Basilica, Pope Leo XIV brought his affection to this community in one of the cityʼs most disadvantaged yet vibrant areas, demonstrating that the pope has not come to just admire churches but to touch human suffering.
In this neighborhood, St. Augustine Church houses — within the premises of a former convent — a soup kitchen run by the Missionaries of Charity and the Mano Amiga Foundation, which distributes clothing and food to the poor.
The beneficiaries of this ministry include the family of 6-year-old Renzo. He and his family arrived in Spain some time ago fleeing extreme poverty in Peru.
Renzo — a little boy from a vulnerable family struggling to make ends meet — put the pope on the spot.
“Why do bad things happen to some people? And not to others? Whose fault is it? Why are there so many people living on the street? No one sees them; no one helps them,” he asked the Holy Father with the sweet innocence of a child.
But before addressing that question, the pope answered another: whether he had wanted to be pope when he was a child.
“I didn’t want to be pope, neither as a young man nor as an old man,” the pontiff remarked, drawing laughter from those present.
But “when the Lord calls, one must say yes,” he added. It was evident that the pope felt at ease in this parish. He even said: “I truly feel at home here, and thank you for everything you represent.”
Leo shared that “it is not easy to find the answer, Renzo, to your question about why bad things happen to some people while others are spared,” while noting that “reflecting on the life of Jesus might help us.”
“God’s word tells us that Our Lord ‘went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil,’ and yet we know he was crucified. But the story did not end there, for he rose again on the third day, conquering both evil and death,” the Holy Father recalled.
The pope emphasized that “through the life of Jesus Christ, God shows us that, even amid suffering, he never abandons any of his children, for he has prepared eternal joy for us — a place where there will be no more sorrow or pain. Let us have confidence; Jesus is with us, helping and accompanying us, and giving us the strength to navigate the difficult moments we may encounter in life.”
During a diocesan meeting with organizations dedicated to social assistance, the pope highlighted the aid they provide to people living in this neighborhood marked by marginalization.
Each diocesan ecclesial community, he noted — moved by charity and guided by the Holy Spirit — “is called to reach out, according to its own means and capabilities, and with discretion, sensitivity, and perseverance, to the wounds and needs of the least and most vulnerable, in order to alleviate their suffering and remedy their poverty.”
As Christians, he affirmed, “we are called to the task of making God’s love for every man and woman present within the concrete fabric of history.”
Also present at the gathering were the four Augustinians living in Barcelona and the surrounding area who served as hosts: two Tanzanians and two Filipinos who minister at neighborhood parishes and one in Badalona.
The pope focused much of his address on forgiveness. “Forgiving does not mean saying that what was wrong was actually right, nor does it mean letting someone continue to cause harm. It does not mean forcing oneself to forget, as if nothing had happened,” he explained.
[Forgiving] does not mean forcing oneself to forget, as if nothing had happened.”
Pope Leo XIV
Forgiving, he added, “means not letting hatred take over our hearts.” He emphasized: “Jesus asks us to forgive because it is the only way to experience God’s peace and heal spiritual wounds.”
The pontiff also addressed one of the most painful social ills: the loneliness of the elderly. “Let us not allow loneliness and abandonment to become the norm in the lives of older adults. That is a very sad thing,” he warned.
Renzo also asked the pope if he liked soccer, a question that drew laughter from those present.
As is well known, the pope plays tennis, but he revealed that he also played soccer as a young man. He shared that in Peru, he “followed the local teams closely” while also playing soccer alongside the seminarians.
“A little sport is good for everyone,” he said, concluding the moving encounter.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
U.S. bishops approve advancing cause of Minnesota missionary priest Joseph Buh
ORLANDO, Florida — The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) voted June 10 to support advancing the cause of beatification and canonization for Monsignor Joseph Buh, a Slovenian-born missionary priest who spent more than half a century ministering in northern Minnesota.
The vote took place during the bishops’ plenary assembly in Orlando, Florida, after Duluth Bishop Daniel J. Felton asked members to consider whether it was advisable to advance the cause on the local level.
The bishops also approved advancing the cause of sainthood for John Rick Miller, a layman and international missionary known as the “ambassador of the Virgin Mary.”
Presenting the request to his fellow bishops, Felton described Buh as “a remarkable example of missionary discipleship” whose “love for Christ and the Church led him to leave his homeland of Slovenia and dedicate his life to the people of northeastern Minnesota.”
“His story remains profoundly relevant for the Church today,” Felton said. “For we live in a missionary age.”
The action marks another step in a process that has been developing in the Diocese of Duluth for several years. In 2024, the diocese began formally exploring whether Buh’s cause should move forward, consulting clergy and the faithful about devotion to the priest and his reputation for holiness.
Buh was born in 1833 in what is now Slovenia and was ordained in 1858. After emigrating to the United States, he became one of the most influential Catholic missionaries in northern Minnesota during a period of rapid immigration and settlement.
Known for extensive travels across the region — often by horseback over long distances and difficult terrain — Buh ministered to immigrant mining communities and Native American settlements at a time when priests could spend weeks or months covering a single mission circuit. He helped establish more than 50 parishes and missions and later served as vicar general of the Diocese of Duluth.
Felton said Buh anticipated key elements of modern Catholic teaching on evangelization.
“He immersed himself in the communities that he served. He learned their languages, understood their customs and struggles and, most importantly, learned the language of their hearts,” Felton said.
Buh spoke six languages, including Ojibwe, an Algonquian language, which Felton said he learned so that he could “faithfully serve and evangelize the Indigenous communities.”
He added that Buh’s pastoral method was rooted in presence and listening.
“He began by listening after learning their language, their story, and their needs,” Felton said. “His example reminds us that evangelization begins with presence, listening, and genuine love for the people entrusted to our care.”
The proposal brought before the bishops follows several years of preparatory work in the Diocese of Duluth. In October 2023, Felton appointed Father Richard Kunst to help evaluate whether sufficient devotion to Buh existed among the faithful to warrant moving forward with a cause.
‘A true spiritual father’
Although Buh died in 1922, interest in his life has persisted within the Diocese of Duluth. Advocates of the cause point to both his missionary work and the reputation for sanctity that followed him during his lifetime and after his death.
Felton said the faithful of northeastern Minnesota have long regarded Buh as “a true spiritual father,” reflected in the title by which he became known, the “patriarch of the Diocese of Duluth.”
His ministry coincided with demographic changes in northern Minnesota as mining and railroad expansion drew new immigrant communities to the region. His fluency in multiple languages allowed him to minister across cultural lines, particularly among European immigrant groups who often lacked stable parish structures in their early years in the United States.
At his funeral, Church leaders praised his decades of missionary service across remote communities in northern Minnesota. In the years since, his memory has remained particularly strong in the region.
“Stories of his life continue to be shared throughout our region, even to this day,” Felton told the bishops. “There are accounts of his sacrifices while traveling through severe winters, his tireless efforts to provide both spiritual and material assistance, and the deep trust people placed in his prayers.”
“For generations, devotion to Monsignor Buh has endured,” he added.
Interest in Buh’s cause has increased in recent years. His remains were exhumed in 2024 and transferred to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary in Duluth, where they were formally entombed in 2025.
As supporters have examined Buh’s life and writings, Felton said he is remembered as “a beloved, gentle, humble, and generous priest” whose life was ordered toward helping others draw closer to God.
“He did not come to Minnesota in search of adventure or personal gain,” Felton said, “but out of a desire to serve Jesus Christ and to lead others.”
The bishops’ vote does not open the cause nor declare Buh a saint. Rather, it represents one of several preliminary steps in the canonization process.
If the process continues, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints would need to grant a “nihil obstat” (“nothing stands in the way”), allowing the cause to be formally opened. At that point, Buh would receive the title “servant of God.”
Felton told the bishops that Buh’s witness speaks to the Church’s present missionary context.
“I truly do believe the Holy Spirit is lifting him up in this time,” he said. “I think the Holy Spirit has lifted him up for our times to be our inspiration, to be our guide.”
Ahead of the World Cup, Pope Leo XIV shares an important lesson from soccer
With the FIFA World Cup set to begin on Thursday, during his apostolic visit to Spain Pope Leo XIV shared a reflection regarding soccer, highlighting the importance of learning teamwork as a lesson for life.
“Soccer also helps us remember something very important: that life is not a race to be run in solitude; it is something played as a team, and we must learn to run together,” the pontiff observed during a meeting with members of diocesan charitable and assistance organizations at the Church of St. Augustine in Barcelona.
“Someone who could be a star but never passes the ball — doesnʼt let the others get into the game — will probably lose,” the pontiff added while answering questions from Renzo, a 6-year-old boy who wanted to know if the Holy Father liked soccer.
At the outset of his remarks on the subject, the Holy Father mentioned that he currently plays tennis but used to play American football in his youth.
He also recalled his time as a missionary in Peru and the love for sports that he shared with seminarians there. “When I was in Trujillo, I played soccer — on defense, if you want to know; I wasnʼt a big goal-scorer,” he recounted.
“A little sport is good for everyone; one has to find ways to — let’s say — maintain and enjoy good health: body, mind, and soul. So, that has indeed been a part of my life,” he continued.
Finally, he connected the topic of sports to the social work carried out by Church communities in Barcelona, describing them as a team working in unity. “I want to acknowledge and commend everything you are doing here,” he concluded.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.