We are short of moral beacons. Pope Prevost is one at the helm of a religious organization that, like all human-made ones, is not free from sin against its own doctrine. The one preached by Jesus of Nazareth on the hillside by the Sea of Galilee. A marginal preaching at first, though, once overwhelmed by success, it had to take shelter in an ark.
A poem by León Felipe explains that the ark grew, and grew, and grew. Then the temple was born. And since the temple also never stopped growing, it ended up devouring the ark, the doctrine, and the one who created it. Hence the moral: if a new doctrine appears, it is better that its creator consume it before the temple consumes it.
I rely on this preamble to address illustrious ignoramuses (nothing to do with the talent of Coronas, Cansado, and Colubi) who feel legitimized to cast the first stone at Leo XIV as the top responsible for the organization that, among other things, turned a blind eye to the terrible sin of pederasty within its ranks.
Prevost faced accusations of cover-up during his tenures as bishop in the United States and Peru, or as prior of the Augustinians in Madrid. They were never proven. Instead, there is evidence that he always took precautionary measures against lascivious priests and always directed accusers towards civil justice.
Nothing prevents him from acting as a light on the path of ethical principles in scarce circulation in public life. Values inseparable from Christian Humanism and, at the same time, very present in the civil catechisms embraced by Spanish socialism (not to be confused with Sánchez's PSOE, please). An equalizing and emancipatory cry for the most vulnerable. Hence the contradiction that certain groups, more inspired by republicanism than leftism, have mobilized against the visit of the Pope of Rome to non-denominational Spain.
Non-denominational, mind you, in light of Article 16 of the Constitution. But not secular, like our French neighbors. However, various associations affiliated with the "Europa laica" movement have addressed the parliamentary groups to ask them not to attend the session in which Prevost will speak to the Cortes Generales, convened for the purpose next Monday the 8th. The representative of these associations, José Antonio Naz, has invited the representatives of the sovereign people to "evaluate and consider attendance at that special session."
The columnist does not buy on sale Sánchez's penchant for walking arm-in-arm with Leo XIV towards the right side of history
His secularism is not reprehensible; I share it. They are within their rights. What I denounce is their feigned disdain for Christian Humanism, one of the three hills of Western civilization. I refer to Golgotha, which shares its symbolic weight with the Acropolis of Athens, cradle of democracy, and the Roman Capitol, where it was established that the rules of coexistence must be public, written, and enforceable.
All of this is embodied in the figure of a spiritual leader -each is free to follow or not- who is also a head of state. And as such, he will occupy the speaker's rostrum of the Parliament that receives him on an official visit.
But the scribbler also does not buy on sale the goody-goody temptation of Pedro Sánchez to walk arm-in-arm with Leo XIV towards the right side of history while praising the encyclical "Magnifica Humanitas." Without stopping, of course, on that passage the Pope dedicates to the "idolatry of profit." Or on another about the role of journalism as an "ardent discoverer of painful truths" ("Crossroads: Sánchez, the Pope, and Artificial Intelligence," May 30, 2026).
