Sawt Falasteen - Pope to bless Barcelona's Sagrada Familia, world's tallest church

The church is a still-unfinished modernist masterpiece by architect Antoni Gaudi that was visited by nearly five million people last year.

The pope's visit during a week-long trip to Spain coincides with the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's death on June 10, 1926.

The devout Catholic, whose cause for sainthood is advancing in the Vatican, was hit by a tram while on his way to pray at a church.

Pope Leo flew to Spain on Saturday, starting his visit in Madrid where he gave an unprecedented speech to the Spanish parliament and held an open-air mass with 1.5 million people.

During his visit, the US-born leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics has denounced polarisation and called for "patient dialogue" instead of war and rearmament.

He has also sought to reinvigorate the Church in a traditional Catholic bastion where religious observance has declined sharply and has promised the Church will do more to tackle what he called the "scourge" of sexual violence by clergy.

After Barcelona, he visits the Canary Islands on Thursday and Friday where he will focus on immigration as the Atlantic archipelago is a key entry point to Europe for irregular migrants.

Before the Sagrada Familia mass on Wednesday, he is due to visit a prison and an abbey in the Montserrat mountain range overlooking Barcelona.

- Completion challenge -

The Sagrada Familia's soaring central Jesus Christ tower was only completed in February, bringing the basilica to its maximum height of 172.5 metres (566 feet).

The peak deliberately falls short of the 177 metres of Barcelona's Montjuic hill -- an act of religious respect from Gaudi who believed the hill was the work of God.

Construction work on the Sagrada Familia began in 1882 and full completion is expected in about a decade.

The construction board, a private canonical foundation, had intended to complete work this year.

But the Covid-19 pandemic paralysed the tourism industry -- and with it the key source of income of the most-visited of Spain's monuments that charge an entrance fee.

Tourists from around the world are now flooding back, boosting the coffers of the basilica, which relies on the takings as well as private donations.

Yet the board is reticent to set a new finish date for the remaining work, including the divisive Glory Facade and its four bell towers.

The board's plan to precede the front entrance by a large flight of steps and a square would entail destroying up to two blocks of homes.

The residents have spent years fighting to halt the plan.

S.Abdullah--SF-PST