Signals

MADRID, Spain (AFP)—Pope Leo XIV on Monday promised victims of sexual violence by Catholic clergy that the Church would make "additional efforts" to change during a meeting in Madrid. The leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics spent an hour with six victims of sexual violence by the clergy on day three of a state visit to Spain where the issue has come up regularly. Each victim recounted "painful personal experience" and put forward proposals "for making the Church's response to such tragic cases more effective", the Vatican said in a statement.

Pope Leo XIV on Monday promised victims of sexual violence by Catholic clergy that the Church would make “additional efforts” to change during a meeting in Madrid, the Vatican said.

The Vatican says that Pope Leo XIV has met with six survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Madrid and vowed to consider their suggestions for how the Catholic Church can improve its response to the crisis.

Pope Leo XIV arrived in Madrid on Sunday for a five-day official visit to Spain, where he is meeting with vulnerable populations including migrants and homeless individuals while promoting human values.

Madrid llevaba días preparándose para la escena. Banderas vaticanas colgadas en balcones, dispositivos de seguridad inéditos, pantallas gigantes en plazas estratégicas y miles de fieles -junto a curiosos, turistas y escépticos- aguardando la llegada de un pontífice que aterriza en un país muy distinto al que visitaron sus predecesores. 

Pope Francis stated during a Madrid visit that a US-Israel military action against Iran does not meet Catholic criteria for a 'just war,' disagreeing with US Vice President JD Vance's earlier defense of the conflict. The Pope emphasized that traditional just war theory predates modern weapons of mass destruction.

Pope Leo 14 arrived in Madrid on Saturday for a seven-day visit to Spain, where he plans to address migration issues and meet with victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. The pontiff acknowledged that 'the abuses are still an open wound' during remarks to journalists.

The president of the Generalitat asserts that "the truth will prevail" and urges "belief in justice even if it costs" Guide to the Leire case: from exposing the PP's sewers to discrediting those investigating PSOE leaders The president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, assured this Thursday that "he respects justice" but that "he knows how to distinguish what is a coincidence from what is not". He made this statement after learning of the investigation being led by the National Court against the maneuvers that Leire Díaz allegedly carried out to neutralize different judicial and police investigations, supposedly overseen from the PSOE. "The truth always ends up prevailing," Illa stated, who on Monday already spoke out for José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero after his indictment, for whom he called for "respect for his honor".

We need Pope Leo XIV to come here and remind us that all of Humanity sails in the same boat, that we are living a transcendental moment in which we will choose the destiny of future generations, and that there are more consistent moral references than the Aldamas, the Ábalos, or the Quiles. Pope Leo XIV will be in Spain from June 6 to 12, a highly relevant trip that will also bring some peace and perspective to well-intentioned Spaniards who wake up startled these days to the sound of UCO, UDEF and National Court alerts, and at breakfast find themselves forced to haphazardly appraise the Zapatero family jewels. The pontiff will visit Madrid, Barcelona, and for the first time in history, the Canary Islands, will participate in more than 20 events, and will help believers and non-believers alike to gain philosophical and moral distance from the Spanish political hornet's nest, speaking about the transcendent issues of this precise moment in history: immigration, inequality, the challenges of AI, war.