Pope Leo remains in Spain and yesterday’s schedule was marked by a magnificent address to parliament. It is covered in all the media, so there is no need to repeat the same points. We highlight some significant aspects of what is happening these days. While Pope Leo’s first interventions seemed to us very weak and poorly judged, even containing errors and strange historical interpretations, his speech in the Cortes was masterful. While Pope Leo was saying all these things and the corrupt Spanish prime minister was presenting him with an olive tree at the nunciature, excavators began to “re-signify” the Valley of the Fallen, with the largest cross in the world and everything, under the signature of the very limited Cardinal Cobo. His interventions these days have shown how little substance he carries and how much longer they are than those of Pope Leo himself. What is being shown with incredible strength these days is the enormous vitality of the people of God in Spain, not so much that of its leaders, both civil and ecclesiastical.
Last day of the Pope in Madrid.
Last full day of the Pope in Madrid before traveling to Barcelona tomorrow morning. The day began with a private meeting with the Prime Minister, Sánchez, at the Apostolic Nunciature. He then delivered a speech to Spanish parliamentarians in which he criticized abortion and euthanasia. Afterwards, he met with the country’s bishops at the Episcopal Conference. He addressed the issue of abuse victims: “The ecclesial community is called to respond with listening, truth, justice and reparation.” Shortly afterwards, he also met privately with a group of abuse victims, promising his commitment —according to the Vatican announcement— to ensure that “the Church can truly be a safe and spiritually healthy place, where wounds find comfort and healing.” Finally, he offered a prayer to the Virgin of Almudena at the Cathedral of Santa María de la Almudena and then met with the diocesan community at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, filled with 80,000 people.
Pope Leo in the Spanish Cortes.
The Pope finally addressed controversial issues such as abortion and the end of life. Spain is immersed in a complex legislative process that could make it the second country in Europe to recognize the right to abortion in the Constitution. “If life ceases to be recognized as a fundamental value, what future can our societies have? Can a community consider itself fully just if it neglects the unborn child, the elderly, the sick, those who suffer in silence or those who depend entirely on the care of others? The defense of human life is not a matter of particular interest or confession: it is an objective of civilization. Every human life must be recognized and protected from conception to its natural end, in all circumstances of its existence.” “When this certainty is obscured, the most vulnerable are the first victims, and the law loses its deepest meaning: to serve and protect every person.”
“The family will always be the first school of humanity.” “In this context, the family, the first human reality and the natural foundation of the community, acquires particular importance. Within the family, generations are intertwined and a living memory is transmitted that gives internal continuity to society. Where the family is supported, the spiritual and social stability of nations is also strengthened. The family will always be the first school of humanity where, more than anywhere else, we learn the elementary grammar of coexistence: welcoming life, caring for others, forgiving, serving and belonging.”
“We need a moral renewal.” “Alongside technical responses and legislative reforms, a moral renewal is also necessary.” This passage sounded like a warning about corruption, following the storm that shook the PSOE and former Prime Minister Zapatero. And the reference to the “tragic migratory drama” that must be addressed by going “beyond the simple management of flows” could not be missing, referring to “a double demand of social justice: offering safe and legal routes, respectful welcome and real opportunities for integration, while promoting the right to remain in one’s own country.” The Pope then mentioned “increasingly dangerous routes,” such as the Atlantic route: “It is necessary to strengthen rescue and assistance, especially through multilateral cooperation,” because “no nation can face a challenge of this magnitude alone.”
And the reference to war: “Every war represents a painful defeat in the capacity for negotiation,” “weapons can impose a temporary silence, but they can never build a genuine and lasting peace. Therefore, it is worrying that in various parts of the world, including Europe, rearmament is re-emerging as an almost inevitable response to the fragility of the international landscape. However, true security comes from justice, patient dialogue, respect for international law.”
Meeting with abuse victims.
At the Nunciature, the Pope met with six victims of abuse in the Church in Spain, accompanied by ecclesiastical personnel committed to supporting victims. During the conversation, which lasted almost an hour, each of those present, based on their personal experiences, offered proposals so that the Church’s response would be more effective. The Pope committed to ensuring that the proposals received serve as a basis for future efforts. The Pope also addressed the issue of abuse during his meeting with the Spanish bishops at the headquarters of the Episcopal Conference: “Our journey is made up of encounters,” he said. “One of the most painful is with those who have been harmed by the very people who were supposed to care for them, including members of the clergy. In the face of this scourge, the ecclesial community is called to respond with listening, truth, justice, reparation and an ever-deeper commitment to prevention and a culture of care. Every wounded person must be able to find sincere listening, acceptance, protection and real paths to healing.”
At the Bernabéu.
“Let nothing disturb them, let nothing frighten them! Together, as a diocesan church, they can offer the evangelical testimony that unleashes the best energies of a humanity bombarded by images and words, but thirsty for justice and truth. Have faith in the increasingly evident fact that one can return to the faith or experience it for the first time in adulthood. Prepare to welcome new beginnings not as an exception, but as a norm of mission,” he said.
The Golden Rose for Almudena.
After concluding his conversation with the victims, the Pope had a brief talk with the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and later greeted the leader of the opposition and the Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo. Before leaving the nunciature for the Cathedral, Leo XIV met with Queen Emeritus Sofía and greeted other members of the royal family. In each of the churches he visits, Leo XIV always stopped to pray before the Blessed Sacrament. At the Almudena, however, that moment was not planned: the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament is completely decorated by Marko Ivan Rupnik, and the Pope chose not to stop there to pray, so as not to associate his image with that of the artist at the center of abuse accusations that the Church has never effectively addressed. Leo XIV paused in prayer before the image of the Virgin, offering her a Golden Rose, a symbol “of the Pope’s filial love for the Virgin Mary.” Queen Emeritus Sofía was also present at the Cathedral dressed in dazzling white.
For whom are vocations?
Leo XIV reminded the Spanish bishops that “it is the Lord who guides us; He is the master of history.” And he asked the Church, “in this time of polarization and increasingly severe opposition, to bear witness to unity in plurality: a communion capable of welcoming the richness of gifts, charisms and sensibilities that the Holy Spirit inspires in the People of God.” The face of Christ, he added, “can be recognized in the living mosaic of the Church, where many pieces, without merging, converge to manifest the beauty of the one Lord.” In this context, the episcopal ministry assumes “a special responsibility”: to be a “visible principle of communion,” safeguarding unity, fostering dialogue and healing fractures.
The central theme is vocations, linked to the question: “For whom am I?” The human heart, he said, “is not filled by accumulating experiences, possibilities or temporary guarantees: it is filled when it discovers a vocation.” For this reason, “vocational pastoral care cannot be reduced to a simple search for numbers.” Citing his predecessor, Leo XIV uttered a phrase that invited us to reflect on the reorganization of seminaries: “The preservation of structures cannot prevail over the good of the vocation.” “Seminarians have the right to the best possible formation, and the Church, for its part, has the right to well-formed priests.” The path, he insisted, is to “join forces” and “learn to work together.” There is also room for the vocation of the laity, especially when they take on the management of works traditionally entrusted to religious: a difficulty that, according to the Pope, must be transformed into “opportunities for encounter, dialogue and communication.”
The appointment of Alvarado.
Luis Badilla analyzes the appointment of María Montserrat Alvarado as the new Prefect of the Dicastery for Communications and the dismissal of Paolo Ruffini. Up to now, Ruffini has not received thanks in the communications of the Holy See, nor the usual farewell audience with Leo XIV. We will see what happens with Tornielli, Bruni and Natasa Govekar, a friend of Rupnik.
In colloquial language, one could say: “The music is changing!” María Montserrat Alvarado has demonstrated her high level of competence and professionalism in a concrete and tangible way, as confirmed by her curriculum. The Dicastery in question was created by Pope Francis (in 2015) to implement the so-called “media reform,” which became a process of unifying 9 pre-existing entities, among which stand out: L’Osservatore Romano, the Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Vatican Television Center (now Vatican Media) and Vatican Radio (now Vatican News).
Pope Francis has never had a good relationship with this Catholic network of Mother Angelica. The reasons are unknown, except for those he himself publicly declared on September 13, 2021. With unfortunate language, he uttered the word “devil,” accusing it of promoting divisions in the Church, in reference to certain media outlets (“an important Catholic television network”).
A significant and influential segment of the Vatican’s communications apparatus, created by Pope Francis in 2015, has never sympathized with the work of the powerful American network EWTN News. Sometimes openly, but often subtly, even in writing, there were persistent attempts to implicate EWTN among those who instigated the initial attacks of the excommunicated former nuncio Carlo Maria Viganò against Pope Francis, an accusation that was never proven or documented. This was a theory similar to another that had circulated: that Viganò had special ties to the network, with connections dating back to the years when he was nuncio in Washington (2011-2016).
“ National Catholic Register” of the EWTN network was one of the first to report on the infamous 11-page memorandum of the excommunicated archbishop, in which he accused Pope Francis and other Vatican officials of having knowledge of the sexual abuse allegations against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick since 2013. The news, published by the world’s leading newspapers, spread widely on the night of August 25-26, 2016 in Europe and in the morning in the United States.
The one hundred thousand copies of L’Osservatore Romano.
In November 2024 Andrea Tornielli announces to his team his plan for the 2025 Jubilee: to print one hundred thousand copies of a special edition of L’Osservatore Romano. In the meetings, there was no talk of how to distribute such a quantity of paper. The “how much” was decided without anyone considering the “where,” the “when” and, above all, the “why.” The ideas of the “bosses” are never questioned because, after all, the Holy See foots the bill. How much did this little game, created to satisfy the vanity of those who wanted to appear, cost in total? How much did the envelopes with QR codes and the weeks of folding entrusted to the company cost? How many copies were actually sold? And how many are still gathering dust today in the basement of Palazzo Pio? Not everyone knows that L’Osservatore Romano is printed internally in quantities of only about three hundred copies: those which, on the very afternoon of their publication, are delivered to the dicasteries, extraterritorial zones and to cardinals and archbishops residing near the Vatican. The rest of the print run is subcontracted to an external printing house, whose manager maintains good relations with members of the Dicastery for Communication. L’Osservatore Romano has simply disappeared from the city’s newsstands.
The rector of Guadalupe flees his responsibilities.
Today’s news is the resignation of the rector of the Basilica, Efraín Hernández, amid the silence of Aguiar Retes, which was presented and accepted last Sunday, June 7. This fact, far from dispelling the doubts accumulated over months, deepens the perception that the outgoing Aguiar has chosen to manage the crisis through silence rather than transparency. Why does a rector resign who, barely two weeks earlier, had been publicly vindicated by Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes? The scandal no longer revolves exclusively around Efraín Hernández; the real focus of attention is now on Carlos Aguiar Retes himself. The cardinal’s opacity has become the main problem. No one has publicly explained the conclusions of the canonical investigation. No one has clarified the content of the external audit carried out by Deloitte.
No one has reported why a priest who was suspended for months was reinstated and subsequently submitted his resignation just a few days later. And no one has explained why, despite resigning, he will remain at the head of the Basilica for several more months and retain his faculties intact within the Chapter. Each day that passes without explanations increases the perception that there is an attempt to protect people rather than clarify facts. The resignation of Efraín Hernández does not represent the end of the crisis; it is the implicit recognition that the problem existed.
The German blessings guide.
An author of the blessings guide of the German Episcopal Conference, which includes those intended for same-sex couples, has responded to the criticisms of Pope Leo XIV and some Vatican officials. He says he finds it difficult to understand these reactions and believes that his critics have not read the text with sufficient attention. Stefan Diefenbach, a former priest who helped edit Segen gibt der Liebe Kraft (Blessing Gives Strength to Love) and there is an interview after the guide was criticized by Cardinal Fernández. “In the end, it is like trying to square the circle, and we knew we could find resistance from all sides. Many people have worked on this guide with great dedication, fidelity and a deeply Catholic perspective, that is, with the universal Church in mind. They have contributed their experience and their theological and pastoral knowledge.”
The German guide, however, suggests a prior conversation between the parish priest and the couple, including the choice of music, prayers and biblical readings. Diefenbach defended this approach, arguing that couples deserve more than a simple superficial gesture. “We removed the word ‘ceremony’ of blessing in many places, because it seems to be a word that sets off alarms in the Vatican, and we did not want the entire text to be blocked by a single word.” Diefenbach expressed his hope that the German bishops would remain firm in the upcoming conversations with the Vatican and welcomed the signs of openness to dialogue from Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State.
The “ape of the Church.”
And we are finishing up. In 1948, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen sounded the alarm about the imminent appearance of a “counter-church.” He called it “the ape of the Church” because the Devil “is the ape of God.” Sheen warned that it would have “all the characteristics and nuances of the Church, but in reverse and devoid of its divine content.” “It will be a mystical body of the Antichrist that in everything external resembles the mystical body of Christ.” Sheen described how communism could come to rival the Church, both in its structure and in the hearts of men. Many prominent clerics have spoken on this subject. In 2012, Cardinal Burke spoke of clerics who believed they were “forming a new Church” and that everything before the Second Vatican Council was defective. In 1988, Cardinal Ratzinger stated that many people were unsure “whether the Church of today is really the same as that of yesterday, or whether it has been changed for something else without informing the people.” Even Padre Pio warned the exorcist Don Gabriele Amorth: It is Satan who has entered the bosom of the Church, and soon he will rule over a false church. It is ironic that Archbishop Sheen is to be beatified at a time when a “synodal Church” is being advocated. But do we really “want to be a synodal Church”?
“…if the salt loses its savor, with what will it be salted?”
Happy reading.