Pope Leo XIV has some links with Spain, the main one for the Spanish ancestry of his mother Mildred Martínez. He has also visited the country several times when he was a prior general of the Augustinians.
Mother of Spanish origin
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Perhaps the strongest link of Leo XIV with Spain is the one that carries in the blood due to the family ancestry of his mother, Mildred Agnes Martínez, as detailed In his official biography.
Two Spanish bishops on his pectoral cross
Pope Leo XIV carries several relics related to the order of St. Augustine to which he belongs, and from which he was superior general. Among them, there are fragments of bones of San Agustín and his mother, Santa Monica, as well as the venerable Augustine Giuseppe Bartolomeo Menochio.
It also contains two relics of Spanish bishops. The first, by Santo Tomás de Villanueva, Archbishop of Valencia and Fraile Agustino, reformer of the Church in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The second, of Blessed Anselmo Polanco, Bishop of Teruel and Mártir, killed during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).
Pastoral view in Augustinian schools
As a prior general of the Order of San Agustín, between 2001 and 2013, he visited Spain several times.
In 2002 he went to the Agustinian Order College in the city of León on the occasion of the centenary of his creation. On that occasion he was also appointed honorary partner of the Association of Forces of the Center.
The current president of the group, which on that occasion was already part of his Board of Directors, Javier Cuadrado, refers to ACI Press that his treatment was “very close and affable” and that today Leo XIV transmitted “cordiality and closeness.”
In 2007, as a prior of the Augustinians, he visited the College of Los Olivos in Malaga, in southern Spain, as part of his tour of all the Augustinian houses during his term. Also in those weeks he was in Seville.
The San Agustín College of Madrid, located a few meters from the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, was visited by Robert Prevost in 2010 to preside over the opening ceremony of the course on the occasion of its 50 years of existence.
Two visits to the Diocese of Huelva
Leo XIV has also been in the Diocese of Huelva, at least two occasions. According to the bishopric, both visits are “to their good relationship with Vicar General, Mr. Emilio Rodríguez Claudio, Osa.”
The diocese of #Huelva elevates his prayer for Pope Leo XIV
As superior to the order of San Agustín, he has visited up to twice the diocese of Huelva thanks to his good relationship with Vicar General, Mr. Emilio Rodríguez Claudio, Osahttps://t.co/pJXvNlmDdS
– Diocese of Huelva (@diocesishuelva) May 8, 2025
Visit to Orihuela
In 2004, the then P. Prevost also traveled to the Alicante town of Orihuela, where he visited the Augustinian schools and the San Sebastián monastery where he lives and pray a community of Augustinian religious who remembers him “humble and kind”, as he has collected The regional press.
BMJ 2011
On the occasion of the BMJ 2011, he returned to the Spanish capital to attend the World Youth Day and during those days he slept at the San Agustín school, where he had been the previous year.
Lightning visit to Pamplona
Today Pope visited other places in Spain being a prior, and did not stop doing it as a bishop of Chiclayo. The Navarra local press He has highlighted an anecdote in 2015, when, back from Rome, he took a car from Madrid to Pamplona to visit a young priest who studied canon law at the University of Navarra.
On pilgrimage to Ávila, by Santa Teresa
In September 2024, Cardinal Robert Prevost visited the Basilica of Santa Teresa in Ávila, former native house of the Carmelo Reformer, where he could pray in the room where he came to the world Teresa de Cepeda and Ahumada.
Visit to the Valley of the Fallen
In 2003 he visited the Valley of the Fallen. This happened within the framework of his participation as a prior in the International Meeting of Young Agustinians under the motto “Together to make, of these times, better times”, which took place at the Fray Luis de León congress center, located in Guadarrama, town of the Sierra de Madrid.
The fact that the Pontiff knows the Valley of the Fallen has been perceived by some as a door of hope for the future of the monumental complex, especially when the Government of Spain has launched a controversial process of “resignification” of its nature.
Synod’s Synod Book, Spanish author
The Spanish priest Luis Miguel Castillo participated in the Synod of Sinodality. During the first part of the Assembly, in October 2023, he conducted an intervention citing San Agustín.
“As a result, then Cardinal Robert Prevost, prefect of the Dicastery of the Bishops, encouraged me to write a reflection based on the thought of the Doctor of Grace, which was useful, well for the Synod, well for the bishops,” explains Fr. Castillo, whose pastoral work takes place in the Archdiocese of Valencia.
Fruit of that impulse, was born Cum vobis et pro vobis. Saint Augustine, shepherd for the people of God. A synodal meditation who was extended by whom Pope was elected on May 8, Leo XIV.
This book was given by Pope Francis to all participants in the Synod of Sinodality in October 2024.
Nicolás de Cárdenas
Born in 1980, I am a Spanish and journalist’s husband and father with more than 20 years of experience in print and digital media, specialized in socio -political and religious information. I have worked more than 10 years in defense of human rights and I have accreditations in journalism and comprehensive communication. Since July 2022, I am a correspondent for ACI Press and Ewtn News in Spain, covering international events of the Catholic Church.