{"id":61994,"date":"2026-06-05T06:46:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T04:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omnesmag.com\/?p=61994"},"modified":"2026-06-04T11:52:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T09:52:50","slug":"spain-a-land-visited-by-the-popes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omnesmag.com\/en\/actualidad\/espana-una-tierra-visitada-por-los-papas\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain: a land visited by Popes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spain has been one of the nations that has most frequently welcomed the last pontiffs. Since the beginning of the custom of papal trips<\/a>, With St. John Paul II, Spain has received John Paul II and Benedict XVI on 8 occasions in total, in different cities and for different reasons, including two World Youth Days.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Paul II: 5 visits<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The custom of papal trips, it should be remembered, began with St. John Paul II. The Polish Pope visited Spain on 5 occasions: in 1982 with a 10-day trip in which the pontiff visited places such as Alba de Tormes, Salamanca, Zaragoza, Seville, Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1984, the Polish Pope landed in Spain for an almost \u00abexpress\u00bb visit before continuing his apostolic journey to the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico to inaugurate the novena in preparation for the V Centenary of the evangelization of America. On this occasion, Zaragoza was the Pope's host city and there he prayed before the Virgin of Pilar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seven years later, in 1989, St. John Paul II celebrated the IV World Youth Day. It was a trip in which the Pope made the last stage of the Way of St. James on foot, entering the cathedral as a pilgrim of honor and fulfilling the traditional rite of touching the mullion of the Portico de la Gloria. There he presided over the vigil on Monte del Gozo and the central mass of the WYD. In Covadonga, at the feet of the \u00abSantina\u00bb, one of the most memorable visits of a Pope to Spain would end. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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St. John Paul II distributes communion to a young woman during World Youth Day at Monte do Gozo, near Santiago de Compostela, Spain, in August 1989 (Photo OSV News\/L'Osservatore Romano, Arturo Mari).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The next visit of John Paul II was in 1993. It was a trip in which the Pope visited southern Spain in a special way to celebrate the V Centenary of the evangelization of America. On this occasion, the pontiff closed the XLV International Eucharistic Congress in Seville, and also visited Huelva and Madrid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last trip of Pope Wojtyla to Spain was in 2003 and, during that visit, the Pontiff canonized Pedro Poveda, Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Rubio, Genoveva Torres, \u00c1ngela de la Cruz and Mar\u00eda Maravillas de Jes\u00fas. During those days, the Cuatro Vientos air base was the scene of the last meeting of the Polish pope with young Spaniards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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