Overview
- Salvador Illa held a roughly 30‑minute private audience with Pope León XIV, becoming the first Spanish leader received by the new pontiff since his May 2025 election.
- Illa invited the Pope to Barcelona on June 10, 2026 for the Sagrada Família’s Torre de Jesús completion and Gaudí centenary; the Vatican has not confirmed attendance.
- The meeting touched on global tensions and a shared commitment to Christian humanist values, and Illa presented cultural gifts including a Sagrada Família tower model, books, olive oils and Catalan charcuterie.
- Following Israel’s interception of a Gaza‑bound flotilla, Illa canceled a planned Sapienza lecture out of respect for campus protests, offered Generalitat legal services to detainees, and engaged Spanish consular and ministerial channels.
- While keeping other engagements in Rome, Illa met Rome’s mayor Roberto Gualtieri and Lazio’s president Francesco Rocca, conferred with Emilia‑Romagna’s Michele De Pascale on housing, immigration and security, visited Sant’Egidio, and prepared to attend Montserrat millenary events.