BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Pope Leo XIV celebrated the Sagrada Familia Basilica as a masterpiece of "stones, colors and light," as he marked the centenary of the death of its architect, Antoni Gaudí, with a Mass on Wednesday under its soaring sandcastle spires.
Leo called Gaudí's unfinished temple, one of the world's most visited monuments, a "sign of unity and harmony for all of Spain," an ongoing building project like the lifelong journey all Christians make to find God.
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"We are all the living stones of this edifice," Leo said from the altar of the basilica, with Spanish King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia sitting to his side and a hundreds-strong choir filling the soaring basilica with song.
The service marked the highlight of Leo's weeklong visit to Spain, the first by a pope in 15 years to the once staunchly Catholic European country that, like many others, has experienced secularizing trends.
