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Pope Leo calls for peace and end to polarization during Spain visit

Pope Leo calls for peace and end to polarization during Spain visit

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Pope Leo XIV has embarked on a week‑long state visit to Spain, where he will meet with migrants and survivors of Catholic clergy sexual abuse.

Leo XIV
Catholic Church
1. Your own history suggests that a culture of encounter, not confrontation, is what fosters stability and prosperity. In reality, the message of peace, which at present unfortunately strikes some as naïve and others as confrontational, is welcomed by those who do not shut themselves off in preconceived ideologies, but are rather open to the ‌truth.
2. I invite everyone to set aside the divisive and polarising narratives of your societal reality and history, so as to overcome sterile simplifications through the fruitful appreciation of ⁠complexity.
3. God's love, charity, and respect for every human being.
4. If they are confronted with the question: do they want to see Bad Bunny or do they want to see the pope, I think many will go to see Bad Bunny. But I think there will also be a few there to see the pope. And that too says something, you know.
5. Young people that are looking for something more, having grown up in many cases without that, if you will, spiritual dimension in their lives, they realize there's an emptiness, there's a lack of a sense of meaning.
6. For the love of truth, I invite everyone to set aside the divisive and polarizing narratives of your societal reality and history, so as to overcome sterile simplifications through the fruitful appreciation of complexity.
7. Our age, seemingly shaken by terrible imbalances and conflicts, cries out from its depths for peace.
Felipe VI
1. Your clarity and firmness, which I also wish to acknowledge, are essential in the process of healing and repairing the harm inflicted: they are essential for the victims, for the faithful, for the church, and for society.
2. Today, the temptation to gain popularity by fanning the flames of polarisation seems to have grown rather than diminished, and human dignity continues to be violated.
Carlos Rodríguez Lopez-Brea
Carlos III University of Madrid
1. This relative harmony owes much to the Vatican, which applied discreet pressure to ensure the papal visit took place in a peaceful atmosphere, pushing the Spanish Church to, sometimes reluctantly, accept several compromises with the government.
2. Relations between the Church and the Sánchez government are less confrontational than during the time of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero [2004-2011], when the Socialist leader's societal reforms [including marriage equality, in 2005, and a new abortion law, in 2010] provoked a fierce clash with Benedict XVI.

Pope Leo calls for peace and end to polarization during Spain visit

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