The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, visits Pope Francis at the Vatican. It’s your second meeting with the Pontiff –the first took place in 2020 and he participated with his wife, Begoña Gómez– and will have as a backdrop the migration crisis and a possible visit of the Pontiff to the Canary Islands.
According to the agenda provided by the Vatican press office, Sánchez’s arrival at the patio of San Dámaso, the esplanade where the official cars used by all heads of state and government on official visits are parked, will take place at 8 a.m.: 45 p.m. . After this meeting, the Pontiff will meet Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky only half an hour later. Indeed, Zelensky is expected at 9:15 a.m.
Pedro Sánchez and Pope Francis They first met at the Vatican on October 24, 2020, four years ago. It was the first meeting between the two, which lasted 35 minutes, the usual duration in meetings of this type.
The press service of the Holy See underlined on this occasion that “the discussions at the Secretariat of State” were devoted “to bilateral relations and questions of common interest which concern the Holy See and Spain”. “The possibility of constant dialogue between the local Church and government authorities” was also highlighted.
The meeting took place in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, so the “health emergency” as well as “the European integration process and migrations” were also on the table, as the press release indicates. According to the statement provided by the press office of the Presidency of the Spanish Government, the meeting also addressed issues of common interest such as “multilateralism, climate change, migration and the global education pact.” Furthermore, according to Moncloa, Sánchez and the Pope showed on this occasion their agreement on the need to build a world based on collaboration and solidarity.
About him climate changeSánchez stressed to the Pope intergenerational responsibility so that future generations can continue to enjoy a habitable and sustainable planet. Likewise, the two leaders spoke about the new Pact on Migration and Asylum that the European Union was working on at the time – and approved in April 2024 -. Then, Sánchez declared to the Pontiff that this pact must be considered with solidarity and responsibility, but above all with humanity.
THE Education was another of the issues discussed at the 2020 meeting. The Director General then underlined the idea that people must be placed at the center of educational action and that we must continue to work to reduce all the inequalities that affect girls and the most vulnerable people.
After the bilateral meeting, the traditional exchange of gifts took place and Sánchez presented the Argentine Pontiff with a facsimile of the Book of Hours of Archbishop Juan Rodríguez de Fonseca. For his part, Francisco gave Sánchez a bronze bas-relief dedicated to the theme of mercy, welcome and fraternity on which is represented in the background a woman with a child in her arms entering the Square Saint-Pierre and in the background a boat with migrants. and in the foreground some intertwining hands.
Possible visit of the Pope to the Canary Islands
On this occasion, the main objective of the visit is, as specified by the Government, “Join efforts” for peace in the Middle East, although the spokesperson for the Executive, Pilar Alegría, did not exclude that the two leaders would address other issues such as the migration crisis affecting Spain or the possible visit of the Pontiff to the Canary Islands.
“Obviously, the visit and the reception are fundamentally aimed at addressing the situation we are experiencing in the Middle East. That is fundamentally the reason for this reception and this visit. Now, if other subjects are logically addressed during the meeting of Pope Francis and the President of the Government, we will be able to inform them the same day,” Alegría said this week during the press conference after the Council of Ministers.
The visit takes place a few weeks later Pope Francis will express his desire to visit the Canary Islands in the midst of the migration crisis affecting the archipelago.
This is what the Pontiff expressed on September 13 during the press conference aboard the plane returning from his tour of Southeast Asia and Oceania. In the Canary Islands, according to Bergoglio, “there are immigration situations that come from the sea.” It is for this reason that he declared that he “would like to be close to the leaders and people of the Canary Islands”.
The President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, invited the Pontiff to visit the archipelago to learn about the migratory reality last January, during his meeting at the Vatican. Francisco had already mentioned the possibility of traveling to Argentina during the second quarter of the year and Clavijo offered him a stopover in the Canary Islands.
Likewise, the Spanish bishops wrote to Pope Francis to reiterate their invitation to visit Spain, particularly the Canary Islands, in the face of the migration crisis facing the archipelago.
At the moment nothing is confirmed, but if it happens it would be Francis’ first visit to Spain and the ninth time that a Pontiff has visited him. Saint John Paul II has visited Spain five times and Benedict XVI three times, the last in 2011 for WYD in Madrid.
MED9 Summit in Cyprus
At the end of the audience with the Pope at the Vatican, Pedro Sánchez will travel to Cyprus to participate in the MED9 summit“where the countries of southern Europe come together to discuss issues of common interest” before the next European Council.
At this meeting, as the government spokesperson pointed out, will be present the heads of state and government of Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Greece, Malta, of Cyprus, Slovenia and Croatia, as well as the President of the European Commission, Ursula. Von der Leyen. The King of Jordan will also participate, who has been invited to address, among other things, Middle East issues.
