MADRID – Prior to Pope Leo XIV’s departure for Spain, much hype was made of the fact that the pontiff’s visit coincided with a 10-day stop in the city by Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny, who is touring Europe this summer.
No official announcement was made, but Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni confirmed to journalists that a meeting between the pope and the popular artist took place June 8, after the pope’s meeting with the diocesan community at Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid.
The pope greeted the artist “together with his family” and other individuals present briefly as he was leaving the stadium after Monday’s event.
A Reggaeton and Latin Trap artist, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, professionally known as “Bad Bunny,” is a popular Latin American singer currently on an extended stay in Madrid as part of his tour, with remaining shows scheduled for June 10, 11, 14, and 15 at Madrid’s Riyadh Air Metropolitano Stadium which seats 60,000 for concerts.
His music can often be political, speaking of a borderless America that speaks Spanish, and much of it is sexually explicit, with the artist known for his suggestive choreography on stage.
Bruni said the Vatican will publish no photos of the meeting, describing it as a private encounter.
En route to Madrid on June 6, Leo even took a question about young people who might be compelled to choose between attending papal events or a Bad Bunny concert.
“If they are confronted with the question: do they want to see Bad Bunny or do they want to see the pope,” Leo told CNN’s Christopher Lamb, “I think many will go to see Bad Bunny.”
“But,” Leo went on to say, “I think there will also be a few there to see the pope. And that says something, you know.”
The pontiff has made a consistent effort to reach out to young people, including in Spain, holding a massive prayer vigil with youth Saturday night attended by some 600,000.
In his remarks on the plane, the pope acknowledged a boost in the number of young adults seeking baptisms and asking to join the Catholic Church, saying he was “very pleased” by the trend.
“Young people that are looking for something more, having grown up in many cases without that spiritual dimension in their lives, they realize there’s an emptiness, and there’s a lack of a sense of meaning, and perhaps my visiting is helped to awaken even further something, that they are even not sure how they might define,” he said.
As with many things where the Catholic Church is concerned, the pope and Bad Bunny’s brief “odd couple” moment on Monday demonstrated the church’s unique ability to bring people together, and to create unexpected encounters in the least expected places.
Follow Elise Ann Allen on X: @eliseannallen
