This Tuesday, after 9:45 p.m. and once the Holy Mass had concluded, with the last light of day, the Holy Father stepped out onto the plaza of the Nativity façade—the only one Gaudí saw rise, begun in 1891—to bless the Tower of Jesus Christ. The symbolism was perfect: from what the architect was able to witness in his lifetime, what he could only dream of was now being blessed.
The facts speak for themselves. At 172.5 meters, the tower makes the Sagrada Família the tallest Christian church in the world: half a meter shorter than Montjuïc, because Gaudí did not want the work of man to surpass the work of God. It is the eighteenth tower of the complex—twelve dedicated to the apostles, of which four remain to be built; four to the evangelists; one to Mary—and it rises above the transept, supported by the tree-like columns of the central nave. It is crowned by a white four-armed cross measuring 17 meters, the equivalent of a five-story building, designed so that a cross is always visible no matter from where it is viewed. Glazed and accessible to visitors, it will not open to the public until 2028, when the interior elevator is completed; the final stretch will have to be climbed on foot, so that “those who reach the light must make one last effort.”
The inauguration culminated at night with a light and music spectacle created for the occasion—playing with Gaudí’s quintessential element—and a drawing of Gaudí’s face traced by drones across the Barcelona sky, before another 4,000 attendees outside.
Leo XIV is now the third Pope to visit Barcelona’s iconic landmark, following John Paul II and the consecration of the church as a basilica by Benedict XVI in 2010. With the central tower completed, the Construction Board now faces the final major phase: the Glory façade, expected to be finished within a decade. When asked about the slow pace of the works, Gaudí would reply with that holy wit: “My client is in no hurry.” One hundred years after his death, his client has sent his Vicar to bless the tower that bears His name.