The second pope for a global missionary Church entirely shares Pope Francis’ diagnosis of Europe, and his prescription of a missionary, synodal conversion.

Whoever was elected pope last year would have leapt at the chance to mark the centenary of Antoni Gaudí’s death by inaugurating the final, central, Jesus Christ tower of his Sagrada Família basilica. But it was Leo XIV’s own choice to make his first trip to Europe an eight-day, 22-speech visit to Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary islands.

The idea for it was born in a meeting with the Spanish bishops last November, when they described to him the spiritual awakening and hunger especially of young people and the challenge the Church faced in responding, which the bishops were seeking to address in their new pastoral plan. Soon after, the Pope offered to help them connect with this young revival by a visit, and the plans snowballed.

Leo’s visit included the first address by a pope to the Cortes (parliament) in Madrid, an extraordinary national moment at the Sagrada Família, and a potently prophetic conclusion in Las Palmas and Tenerife, to spotlight the plight of migrants. But while it was about many things, the essence of Leo’s week was to platform a new missio ad Europam. It was to show how the Church in Europe needs to change in order to evangelise.

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