Pope Leo XIV Blesses Completed Sagrada Familia Tower and Criticizes European Defense Spending
The pontiff will celebrate Mass at the Barcelona basilica and bless its newly completed 566-foot central tower during his weeklong visit to Spain.
France 24Pope Leo XIV will hold Mass at Barcelona’s La Sagrada Familia on Wednesday and offer a papal blessing to the basilica’s highest spire. The central Tower of Jesus Christ stands at 566 feet and is crowned with a five-story ceramic cross that weighs 24 tons. 5 meters.
The visit coincides with the centenary of Antoni Gaudí’s death on June 10, 1926. Gaudí took over construction in 1883 and was struck by a tram and killed while walking to pray at another church. Sagrada Familia has been under construction since 1882.
Planners aim to finish the basilica by 2034, though the construction board has not set a revised date after pandemic-related delays. The pope’s weeklong trip to Spain is his first significant European journey since his election last year and the first papal visit to the country in 15 years. He flew to Spain on Saturday.
2 million people attended an outdoor Mass he led in Madrid, according to the Vatican. 5 million. On Monday, Pope Leo XIV became the first pontiff to address Spain’s parliament.
He spoke almost exclusively in Spanish and is expected to use some Catalan during the Barcelona portion of the trip. ” He also spoke against Europe’s increased defense spending and urged governments to direct resources toward peacemaking and aid for the needy. “Weapons can impose a temporary silence, but they can never build an authentic and lasting peace,” he said.
He called on European countries to move beyond “the mere management” of immigration and to address root causes including war, poverty, and climate change. “The moral greatness of a nation is manifested above all in its capacity to accompany, protect and love those lives that pass through the greatest fragility,” he said.
The final portion of the trip will take him to the Canary Islands on Thursday and Friday to meet African migrants.
More than 3,000 people died attempting the sea crossing last year, according to Caminando Fronteras. Mauricio Cortés, a Mexican architect working on the basilica, assembled the 24-ton cross atop the Tower of Jesus Christ. In a December interview, he said Gaudí wanted the cross to resemble a crystal and that the design incorporates ceramic and polished-glass pyramids.
“It’s high technology to stay true to the original vision,” Cortés said. Foreign visitors account for 90 percent of current attendance at Sagrada Familia, and more Americans visit than Spaniards. The basilica drew nearly five million visitors last year.
The peak of the central tower was deliberately kept below the 177-meter height of Barcelona’s Montjuic hill, reflecting Gaudí’s view that the hill was God’s work. In one of his final acts before his death in May 2025, Pope Francis declared Gaudí “venerable” in recognition of his “heroic virtues,” the first formal step toward possible sainthood.
