{"id":31752,"date":"2026-06-12T17:37:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T00:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/?p=31752"},"modified":"2026-06-12T17:37:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T00:37:26","slug":"pope-leo-xiv-in-barcelona-in-the-company-of-don-bosco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/2026\/06\/12\/pope-leo-xiv-in-barcelona-in-the-company-of-don-bosco\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo XIV in Barcelona, \u201cIn the Company of Don Bosco\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

(ANS \u2013 Barcelona) \u2013<\/strong> Pope Leo XIV<\/strong> spent the second and longest stage of his apostolic journey in Spain in Barcelona<\/strong>, a city with deep ties to Don Bosco<\/strong>. The Pope\u2019s messages and pastoral gestures left a profound impression on the faithful gathered there, just as Don Bosco\u2019s<\/strong> visit to the Catalan city more than a century ago bore lasting fruit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the insight of Fr. Joan Llu\u00eds Play\u00e0<\/strong>, Delegate of the Rector Major for the Salesian Family<\/strong> and a native of Barcelona, we can revisit some of the key moments of this Catalan leg of the papal journey through a Salesian perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On June 10<\/strong>, from the central balcony of the fa\u00e7ade of the Abbey of Montserrat<\/strong>, one of Catalonia\u2019s most important spiritual landmarks, Pope Leo XIV<\/strong> delivered a message of unity. Before thousands of faithful gathered below, he urged them to live \u201call united as one family,\u201d a theme that became one of the defining messages of his visit to this autonomous region of Spain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Likewise, during the Mass he celebrated on the centennial of Antoni Gaud\u00ed\u2019s<\/strong> death at his masterpiece, the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia<\/strong>, Pope Leo XIV<\/strong> once again appealed to the hearts of Christians, calling for peace and hospitality. He emphasized that believers cannot kill the innocent or \u201cabandon those who suffer, those who weep, those fleeing poverty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a special way, Don Bosco<\/strong> was also present at both of these Christian landmarks from which the Pope proclaimed his messages of unity and fraternity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Fr. Play\u00e0<\/strong> explained:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe promoters of these works wanted them to include saints who were born in Barcelona or who had a direct connection with the city. And Don Bosco<\/strong> is certainly one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Saint of Youth visited Barcelona in 1886, during the final years of his life. Even then, he inspired tremendous enthusiasm and devotion, attracting widespread attention to the Lord\u2019s work. During that visit, he received a donation of land on Mount Tibidabo<\/strong>, where the great Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus<\/strong> was later built. The church still stands today as a continuation of the work he had dedicated himself to in Rome during the final years of his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon receiving the unexpected gift of land in Barcelona, Don Bosco<\/strong> remarked:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow that the Church of the Sacred Heart in Rome is almost complete, we must consider how to promote devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus even more. An inner voice assured me that I would find the means to fulfill my desire. This voice kept repeating to me: Tibidabo, tibidabo<\/em> (\u2018I will give, I will give\u2019 in Latin)\u201d (Memorie Biografiche<\/em>, XVIII, 114).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflecting on the statues of Don Bosco<\/strong> found at both sites, Fr. Play\u00e0<\/strong> added:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the case of the Abbey of Montserrat<\/strong>, the image of Don Bosco<\/strong>, accompanied by two children, stands directly in front of the basilica, as if establishing a dialogue with the abbey and with Our Lady of Montserrat<\/strong>, who is venerated there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the case of the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia<\/strong>, it was Antoni Gaud\u00ed<\/strong> himself who, from the beginning of construction, wanted the presence of saints as living symbols of virtue and examples for the world, so that their contemplation would foster remembrance and inspire imitation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The presence of Don Bosco<\/strong> within the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia<\/strong> also creates a natural connection with the Salesian Temple of the Sacred Heart on Tibidabo<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Concluding his reflection, Fr. Play\u00e0<\/strong> observed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust as the tower of the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia<\/strong> is the highest point among the city\u2019s buildings, so Tibidabo<\/strong>, crowned by the Sacred Heart<\/strong>, is the highest point of the mountain overlooking the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd Don Bosco<\/strong>, always depicted with young people by his side, invited us to \u2018Raise Our Eyes\u2019\u2014the motto of this apostolic journey\u2014in order to renew our faith, strengthen our hope, and practice charity.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(ANS \u2013 Barcelona) \u2013 Pope Leo XIV spent the second and longest stage of his apostolic journey in Spain in Barcelona, a city with deep ties to Don Bosco. The Pope\u2019s messages and pastoral gestures left a profound impression on the faithful gathered there, just as Don Bosco\u2019s visit to the Catalan city more than a century ago bore lasting fruit. With the insight of … Continuar leyendo Pope Leo XIV in Barcelona, \u201cIn the Company of Don Bosco\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":10336596,"featured_media":31756,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[181978,299562,780293845,516714022],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-don-bosco","category-holy-father","category-salesian-history","category-salesian-world-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/salesianbulletin.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026-06-12-Pope-Don-Bosco-feature.jpg?fit=1600%2C875&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p59ePG-8g8","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10336596"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31752"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31758,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31752\/revisions\/31758"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}