Pope Leo XIV returned to Rome happy to have found a people who loved him and celebrated the faith with enthusiasm. And above all, because he had fulfilled his mission of transmitting hope and union with Jesus Christ.

The Holy Father has chosen Spain wisely for his first visit to a major European Union country. He was already familiar with our history, our way of life, and the deep roots of the Catholic faith among us. Of course, there are negative signs and a decline in religious practices, but these cannot overshadow the reality of our shared, celebrated, and lived faith. The Pope has had the intuition that the current generation is capable of taking up the mantle and overcoming the religious and moral shortcomings of the previous generation.

Sharing the faith

We heard again, “This is the Pope’s youth,” echoing the five trips of John Paul II and the three of Benedict XVI. The Vigil with young people in Madrid was a joyful encounter with Leo XIV and the faith celebrated. Everyone was deeply moved by the time of adoration of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, a silence full of life, encounter, and spiritual richness. Praying the Rosary in dialogue felt completely natural because many young people pray it regularly, sometimes even with their families. This entire festive celebration at the Vigil had an air of naturalness, of genuine joy, and of faith celebrated without reservation. This was due to the many weeks of preparation, of prayer meetings in parishes, apostolic groups, schools, and families.

He urged them and everyone else to discover the beauty of the faith they had received: “Share your spiritual journey, then, bearing witness to it with consistency of life: the will to follow Jesus will constantly renew you, especially in times of weariness. It is important to see that no one is alone in believing in Jesus. Look how many of you are here! And so too, in community, in youth groups, in the family, we can all learn the beauty of our faith. For by sharing your spiritual journey, the will to follow Jesus will constantly renew you. He walks alongside us and illuminates our path. Following the example of the Master: this is how I invite you to act, as pastors, educators, as  friends. If you pray with love, young people will appreciate the importance of prayer. If you burn with faith, you will transmit its living fire. Seek this fire of God’s love in your hearts!”

Each day the Holy Father dedicated time to those most in need of attention, such as the migrants on the first day in Cedia, gathering their moving testimonies. Until his final day at the port of Arguineguín, Leo XIV addressed those who bear decisive responsibility for managing migration: “This tragedy must become a moment of reflection: for the nations of origin, which must create conditions of peace, justice, and development; for the nations of transit, called to protect and not abandon the vulnerable to criminal networks; for Europe, which cannot proclaim human dignity and become accustomed to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic being cemeteries without gravestones.”

Babies and hugs

It seems as if Leo XIV was taken aback by the enthusiasm in the streets as mothers presented their children to the Pope: never before had a Pontiff welcomed so many babies or received so many informal embraces from young people, the sick, immigrants, or artists. And never before has a Pope ascended and descended so many steps with the agility we witnessed from Leo XIV.

This week accompanying the Holy Father has served to highlight the faith that unites us, the strength of pastoral ministry, and to raise our gaze toward higher goals. For the true protagonist has been Jesus Christ, revealed in prayer, in the sacraments, and in charity toward our neighbors in need. The generosity of the thousands of volunteers must continue for a long time, leading to new commitments. Leo XIV cast his net to promote vocations of service in the Church in Spain, as lay people committed to the sanctification of work, to the fraternal communion of ecclesial movements and realities, and, naturally, to the growth of vocations to the priesthood or religious life.

With a future

At the Congress, the Pope addressed legislators and everyone else, urging them to legislate and apply laws that benefit the dignity of all. In his widely applauded speech, he evoked the Spanish legal and intellectual tradition, from Cervantes and Saint Teresa to the School of Salamanca, recalling that “Spain has known how to see the human being as more than just a cog in the social machine: it has recognized him as a creature open to truth, endowed with freedom, and driven by a thirst for eternity.” With this conviction, he posed an important question: “If life ceases to be recognized as a fundamental value, what future can our societies have?”

Finally, another important detail was the unveiling and blessing of seventeen commemorative plaques, one for each of the seventeen churches in the Archdiocese of Madrid, and one for the San Dámaso Faculty of Theology. The Church is growing and establishing itself in new neighborhoods with younger populations, also to serve the immigrants who manage to settle in our country.

Spain needs Pope Leo XIV after fifteen years of papal drought, as demonstrated by the people’s support of the Holy Father, the collaboration of all, the availability of families, and the overflowing enthusiasm that has surprised everyone. The Pope returns to Rome happy and with a tan from the hours he spent in the sunny open air as a pilgrim of God. And it seems to me that he, too, needed Spain to open a great door to other journeys in Europe and America as witnesses of hope for the Church and for the world.