Madrid on Monday provided the backdrop for one of the most eagerly anticipated meetings as part of the papal visit: Leo XIV granted a private audience to Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny at the Bernabéu, RTVE (source in Spanish) has confirmed. Although there are no official images for now, it is known that the two of them spoke for a few minutes, taking advantage of their presence in Madrid over the past few days.
While Bad Bunny’s now legendary “casita” has been installed for days at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano Stadium, where the artist has been playing a ten-show residency since 30 May, the meeting between the two public figures took place in the city’s other major venue, the Santiago Bernabéu, where on Monday a “festival of faith” was held in front of 70,000 people.
It was precisely this overlap in Madrid, the city the Pontiff arrived in last Saturday, that had already fuelled speculation about a possible encounter between the head of the Church and today’s foremost exponent of perreo.
Shrouded in the Vatican’s customary discretion, the meeting became the best-kept secret of the visit. Some attendees took pictures on their mobile phones, but only one official image, captured by the papal entourage, is thought to have been authorised, pending the right moment for its publication.
