BARCELONA – In the build-up to Pope Leo XIV’s trip to Spain, there was controversy in Catalonia when the Vatican released the missal for the inauguration of the Tower of Jesus Christ – at the world-famous Sagrada Familia – that was in Spanish. Many asked why there wasn’t any Catalan.

Antoni Gaudí, the brilliant mind behind the construction of the basilica, was extremely proud of his Catalan heritage and even addressed the Spanish King in the language. In 1924, Gaudí was arrested for speaking Catalan to Spanish authorities and refusing to change to Castilian.

The outrage is best viewed in this context – not including the centuries of complex history between Catalonia and the rest of Spain, as well as Franco’s suppression of the language – and the pope dealt nimbly with an issue that could have easily overshadowed his visit to Barcelona.

Leo was “perfectly informed” of the potential pitfalls that lay in wait in Barcelona, according to Salvador Illa, president of the Catalonian government. Illa was speaking to Cadena COPE, a media company owned in part by the Spanish bishops’ conference, about a meeting he had with the pope on Tuesday afternoon, the day of the pontiff’s arrival to Barcelona.

Illa’s intention was to brief the pope “on the situation in Catalonia” but someone had gotten there first as Leo “was already aware of it.”

Illa, who is a practicing Catholic and member of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), the same party of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, gave a full-throated endorsement of the pope’s diplomatic skills. “I have never had any doubt about the sensitivity that Pope Leo XIV and the Vatican have towards the reality of Catalonia,” he said.

Trouble in parliament

On Monday, before Leo’s much-vaunted speech to the Spanish parliament, the language issue reared its head again. Miriam Nogueras, spokeswoman for pro-independence group Junts, spoke to the pope one-to-one and later revealed on social media that she’d addressed him in English.

According to sources widely reported in Spanish media, she urged the pope to speak Catalan during his visit. “Speaking the language of the land that welcomes you is a beautiful act of respect and love,” she is reported to have said.

“Yes, I addressed [Pope Leo] in his mother tongue, English, as an act of respect. Yes, I took advantage of an event that had all the focus to put Catalonia and Catalan at the center. And I won’t stop claiming our identity with all the pride and lack of complexes, even if some people get annoyed,” she later clarified on social media.

This caused considerable consternation in the more conservative parts of the Spanish press, and some pointed to Leo’s remarks that Spanish is a “language that unites continents”, as well as his calls for greater unity, as a veiled corrective to Nogueras’ intervention.

Illa, though, certainly didn’t see it that way. He saw Leo spreading a message of “respect for diversity” and of “not being afraid of those who are different.”

“From a place of respect for diversity, we must seek what unites us,” he said.

Leo’s efforts appreciated 

As last week’s controversy was reaching its crescendo, Cardinal Juan José Omella, Archbishop of Barcelona, had to step in and assure people that the pope would incorporate Catalan into the trip.

“The Pope knows he has to speak something in Catalan. But there are people who like to stir up controversy, and this must be avoided,” he said.

Omella’s assurance proved true, and Leo, who is fluent in Spanish, spoke Catalan as much as he could during his time in Barcelona.

“Beloved brothers and sisters, it is with great pleasure that I start my visit holding the midday prayer at this cathedral,” he said in Catalan at the Barcelona cathedral on Tuesday.

During the prayer vigil at the Lluis Companys Olympic stadium, testimonies were shared with the pope by the youth, some of which were in Catalan. Leo flipped between Spanish and Catalan throughout the vigil.

On Wednesday, Leo went on a whistlestop tour of Catalan Catholic heritage. He visited the Montserrat monastery, which houses the famous Black Madonna, and also San Agustin parish in El Raval district, which is a hub of homeless outreach.

He finished his trip at the Sagrada Familia and at the moment of truth – the blessing of the tower – he didn’t disappoint, speaking in both Catalan and Spanish. “I’m delighted to see that the Holy Father has shown the sensitivity toward our country and our language that many of us were hoping for,” said Junts president, Carles Puigdemont, after the blessing of the tower.

Leo’s efforts speaking Catalan were so impressive that Nogueras even used it against Prime Minister Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the conservative People’s Party (PP).

“That the Holy Father has spoken more Catalan in one hour than Mr. Feijóo and you together throughout your entire political career explains very well how much you all care about Catalonia and the Catalans,” she thundered at Sánchez in parliament on Wednesday.

While mind-reading is always a dangerous game, given the tenor of Leo’s speeches in Spain and his approach so far as pontiff, it is not outlandish to suppose he wouldn’t exactly welcome being used in some political point-scoring.

If there’s one thing Leo’s time as pope has shown, it’s that he often speaks a different language entirely to political leaders. Just ask Trump on that one.