Pope Leo XIV humorously remarked on Saturday about sharing the spotlight with another major figure in Madrid this weekend. He also shared his allegiance in Spain’s renowned football rivalry.
Meanwhile, Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny is in town, performing two concerts as part of his extensive 10-stop tour across Spain.
During a chat with journalists aboard his flight to Madrid, Pope Leo acknowledged the magnetic pull Bad Bunny has, especially on the youth, hinting at reports of a spiritual awakening among young Spaniards.
The pope, hailing from America, expressed his empathy towards young adults’ search for purpose and hopes his visit might ignite some inspiration within them.
“Faced with the choice between attending a Bad Bunny concert or seeing the pope, many might opt for Bad Bunny,” Pope Leo mused. “However, there will still be some who choose to see the pope. That speaks volumes, doesn’t it?”
His intuition was spot on: a massive crowd of around 500,000, predominantly young Spaniards, gathered in a Madrid plaza for an evening prayer vigil. They enthusiastically chanted “This is the youth of the pope!” as Leo toured in his popemobile, followed by a lively performance of a Spanish version of the 1970s American musical “Godspell.”
Leo is opening a weeklong visit to Spain on Saturday. After Madrid, the trip will also take him to Barcelona and the Canary Islands. He’s hoping to bring a message of unity in a country polarized with political and church scandals.
Leo was also asked about news that plans are moving ahead for his beloved Chicago Bears to move to Hammond, Indiana. The board of the team voted this week to move forward with a stadium development project in Hammond.
Asked if he had any words of consolation for Illinois, the Chicago-born pope quipped: “That’s out of my pay (scale).”
In other sporting comments, Leo confirmed that he would root for the United States in the upcoming World Cup, and showed his true team colors when asked about whether supports Real Madrid or the Barcelona soccer team: “That’s easy,” he said. “The pope is for all teams, but Prevost is Real Madrid,” he said, referring to his birth name.
Pope recalls his father’s service on D-Day anniversary
Leo fielded a host of questions as he greeted journalists traveling with him. He spoke about Ukraine and Lebanon and his recent proclamation that the Catholic Church’s “just war” doctrine — which establishes the criteria when war can be morally justified — was “outdated.”
With Saturday marking the 82nd anniversary of the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944, Leo also told a French journalist that he would like one day to visit Normandy, France, as pope.
“My father was there,” he said.
It was a reference to Leo’s father, Louis Prevost, who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and participated in the D-Day landings at Normandy as part of Operation Overlord, according to the Pentagon.
Prevost also commanded an infantry landing craft, and after 15 months overseas, attained the rank of lieutenant junior grade, according to a note on the Pentagon website published soon after Leo’s election.
After the war, Prevost became a teacher and school principal in Chicago, got married and he and his wife, Mildred, had three boys. The future pope, Robert Prevost, was the youngest, born on Sept. 14, 1955.
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
