The historic visit that Leo XIV will make to the Congress of Deputies on June 8 will feature one especially significant absence. Former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has declined the invitation issued by the Lower House and will not be present for the address the Pontiff will deliver before the institutions of the State.
Sources close to Zapatero indicate that the former socialist leader is focused on preparing his upcoming statement before the National Court, scheduled for June 17 and 18, as part of the investigation into the so-called Plus Ultra case.
Felipe González will also not attend
Zapatero will not be the only former president absent.
According to sources from the Presidency of the Congress, Felipe González has also formally declined the invitation to attend the event, meaning neither of the two former socialist presidents will participate in the institutional reception for Leo XIV.
By contrast, Mariano Rajoy has already confirmed his presence in the chamber. As for José María Aznar, no official response has been made public so far.
A visit marked by political appropriation
The coincidence between the papal visit and the Spanish political situation has not gone unnoticed in recent weeks. The Archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal José Cobo, recently argued that Leo XIV “is not coming to engage in politics” and called for the visit to be viewed from a broader perspective than partisan current events.
However, in just a few days we have witnessed a genuine institutional and media operation to turn the Pontiff’s apostolic journey into a major state event carefully managed by political power. More than eighty coordination meetings, the official declaration of the visit as an event of “exceptional public interest,” the largest police deployment of the democratic era, constant public appearances, appropriation of papal phrases, and an institutional mobilization that resembles an international summit more than a spiritual pilgrimage.