Sawt Falasteen - Pope visits polarised Spain with focus on migrants

The visit starts with a welcome at the royal palace in Madrid from King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia.

Later in the day, there will be a prayer vigil near Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu Stadium where 400,000 people are expected.

On Sunday, around a million people are set to attend a Mass in the city centre.

During his seven-day trip, Leo will make a speech to the Spanish parliament and bless the new tower of the Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona -- now the world's tallest church.

In the Canary Islands on Thursday and Friday, Leo will meet migrants and the organisations helping them and will be joined by Sanchez to honour thousands of migrants who have died trying to reach Europe.

The Canaries -- Spanish islands off the coast of west Africa -- have become the main entry point for irregular migrants into Spain after long and dangerous trips from Africa.

The UN's International Organization for Migration estimates 1,172 migrants died or went missing along the route in 2025 -- a figure only slightly lower than the 1,215 people in 2024.

In contrast with many of its European allies, Spain under Sanchez has a relatively liberal immigration policy.

But his government is under pressure from the Popular Party and extreme-right Vox, the third political force in the country, which sums up its programme with a slogan calling for the "defence of Spain, the family and life".

- 'Polarised country' -

Sanchez is also under attack from critics over several corruption scandals involving his inner circle.

His wife, brother, former top Socialist officials, and ex-prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero are embroiled in separate cases.

The scandals have embarrassed Sanchez, who took power in 2018 promising to clean up Spanish politics after the Popular Party became mired in its own corruption affair.

Sanchez has rebuffed opposition demands to resign, insisting his minority coalition will see out its term until the next scheduled vote in 2027.

Leo XIV "is arriving in a polarised country where different players could try to take advantage of the visit", said Rafael Rubio, the Church's spokesman for the Spanish visit.

"Ensuring that his message reaches everyone and speaks to everyone is a major challenge," he said.

Some 15,000 members of the national police and Guardia Civil are being deployed for the visit, alongside local police forces.

There are also more than 4,000 journalists accredited from 80 nationalities.

It is the US-born pope's first trip to an EU country outside of Italy and the first state visit to Spain by a pope since Benedict XVI came in 2010.

Leo's predecessor Francis largely overlooked many of Europe's traditional bastions of Catholicism where, like Spain, religious observance has been falling rapidly.

C.Hamad--SF-PST