When the Pope scheduled the official visit that began yesterday in Spain, he could hardly have imagined the great climate of polarization that exists in the country’s political life. Since Pedro Sánchez’s investiture, the confrontational situation has resembled a pressure cooker emitting an increasingly long and prolonged whistle, seeming about to explode at any moment. That’s why, as soon as he set foot on Spanish soil, in his first public address, the Pope took the bull by the horns and announced that he came “to encourage and inspire (…) deeper reconciliation and cooperation between the different forces of this nation.” And he recalled that Spain’s history suggests that “it is not the culture of confrontation, but that of encounter, which generates stability and prosperity.” Wise words that do not seem likely to change the climate of tension the country is experiencing.
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But we would do well to listen to the Pope. In this first year of activity, he has surprised with a brave and committed discourse, which has served equally to stop Donald Trump in his tracks and to criticize the techno-oligarchs who seek to dominate the world through artificial intelligence. Robert Francis Prevost’s great merit is to ensure that his discourse is followed and valued not only by the Catholic family but also by secular people who respect his views. His first encyclical, Magnifica humanitas, has been impactful due to the intellectual level it displays, and it is not surprising that yesterday it was already among the best-selling non-fiction books in the ranking of our newspaper’s Cultura/s supplement.
Tomorrow, Monday, he will have a meeting with members of the Cortes at his own initiative, where he will be able to privately develop the discourse outlined yesterday. It is also worth noting the nod he gave yesterday to Pedro Sánchez’s international policy, thanking him for his “fidelity to international law and multilateralism.”
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His trip to the Canary Islands to visit a refugee center sends a message to a Europe that in a few days will see the new European Pact on Migration come into force, which facilitates the creation of spaces outside the EU to confine undocumented immigrants. In short, a Pope who leaves no one indifferent.
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