Pope Leo’s Illuminating Evening at La Sagrada Familia| National Catholic Register
Is the Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona the most important church in the world?
No other church has had a pope visit for its dedication — twice! With thousands in attendance within the basilica, and an estimated 120,000 reportedly gathering outside, Wednesday evening’s Mass at the Sagrada Familia was the highlight of Pope Leo XIV’s two days in Barcelona.
Construction of the church began in 1882 and, even after 144 years, it is not complete. The key figure in its construction was its chief architect for more than 40 years (1883-1926), Antoni Gaudí, who died after being hit by a tram in 1926.
Gaudí’s cause for canonization is progressing. Sometimes called “God’s Architect,” he was declared “Venerable” by Pope Francis in April 2025, a week before the Holy Father’s death. Gaudí’s engineering skill — in addition to his artistic vision — was such that even today construction crews, using the latest computerized techniques, are discovering that his century-old calculations were accurate.
‘Work in Progress’
“The Basilica of the Sagrada Familia remains a work in progress today, reminding us that the Christian life is always a journey, because it is a project that God is carrying out,” preached Leo at the Mass. “We do not, therefore, dwell in an unfinished work, but in a temple still under construction. The fact that it is incomplete is not a flaw, for it bears witness to a desire; it does not signify a shortcoming, but rather expresses a promise.”
The Holy Father visited the Sagrada Familia on the centennial of Gaudí’s death, June 10, to dedicate the recently completed Tower of Jesus, the principal spire, which makes the church the tallest in the world (566 feet). The king and queen of Spain were present, as they were in 2010 when Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the church and designated it a basilica.
It was an evening with remarkable moments, beginning with a blind girl who explained to the Holy Father and the King and Queen the symbolic significance of the Tower of Jesus. It concluded with a sound-and-light spectacular, illuminating the bright colors of the stained glass from inside, and including a massive drone-guided portrait of Gaudí in the night sky, accompanied by the phrase: “Primer l’amor, després la tècnica” (“First love, then technique”).
It was as though the torch-lighting arrow from the 1992 Barcelona Olympics had grown into a festival of light.
The Sagrada Familia is Barcelona’s principal attraction, with nearly 5 million visitors in 2025. Revenue from ticket sales funds the construction and operation of Sagrada Familia, which belongs neither to the archdiocese nor the government, and gets money from neither. It is run by a private foundation.
Gaudí’s design combined a standard 19th-century neo-Gothic style with curvilinear shapes taken from nature. The cluster of trees — the 18 spires in the original design — give an Art Nouveau face to the basilica, making it quite unlike any other church — or any other building.
Pope Leo offered a summary of the theology of sacred architecture as lived by Gaudí:
“It is faith that shapes the stones and gives meaning to the edifice we inhabit together. In our prayer, therefore, we discover the original bond between all things and God, the Creator of heaven and earth. He is the Artist who has imprinted his splendor upon the cosmos. Created in his image, humanity responds to God’s work with its own ingenuity: this is how the artist transforms talent into praise and creativity into a testimony to the Creator himself. As an architect inspired by faith, the venerable Antoni Gaudí designed this place with the desire to narrate the mysteries of the Lord’s life.”
Praise for the Sagrada Familia is lavish and widespread.
‘Greatest Modern Building on the Planet’
The Daily Telegraph, on the occasion of Leo’s visit, called it the “greatest modern building on the planet,” writing that it is “a parallel universe in which architectural modernism barely happened, symbolism and decoration remained acceptable and we kept creating places with joy, natural patterns and a whiff of the sacred.”
Much more than a “whiff.”
The late Cardinal George Pell was reluctant to visit but did so in 2014 when pressed by his brother. He was converted from skeptic to ardent admirer.
“I was put off by photos of the basilica’s exterior. It all seemed a bit loopy: Picasso in Hollywood,” wrote Cardinal Pell. “But I knew nothing of the basilica’s interior (and not much more, in fact, about the exterior). I was quite prepared to be unimpressed.”
“My visit completely changed my opinion,” the cardinal wrote. “The basilica is a work of genius. This place of worship speaks of God to the people of today (and tomorrow) more eloquently than any church I know. Catholic symbols are everywhere, teaching about Christ, the Church, light and life.”
The greatest modern building in the world. The most eloquent church in speaking about God. It’s no mystery then that two popes have come to mark its continuing completion. Benedict made a special visit to consecrate it for worship in November 2010. He noted:
“The joy which I feel at presiding at this ceremony became all the greater when I learned that this shrine, since its beginnings, has had a special relationship with Saint Joseph. I have been moved above all by Gaudí’s confidence when, in the face of many difficulties, filled with trust in divine Providence, he would exclaim, ‘Saint Joseph will finish this church.’ So it is significant that it is also being dedicated by a Pope whose baptismal name is Joseph.”
Benedict did not come for sentimental reasons, but because he saw in Gaudí’s design a rare achievement — a synthesis of sacred Scripture, of natural beauty, of liturgy. The Sagrada Familia might even be considered a concrete expression of Joseph Ratzinger’s theology. Benedict expressed that in his remarkable homily, spiritually interpreting Gaudí’s masterpiece:
“In this place, Gaudí desired to unify that inspiration which came to him from the three books which nourished him as a man, as a believer and as an architect: the book of nature, the book of sacred Scripture and the book of the liturgy. In this way he brought together the reality of the world and the history of salvation, as recounted in the Bible and made present in the liturgy. He made stones, trees and human life part of the church so that all creation might come together in praise of God, but at the same time he brought the sacred images outside, to place before people the mystery of God revealed in the birth, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
Pope Benedict continued, “In this way, he brilliantly helped to build our human consciousness, anchored in the world yet open to God, enlightened and sanctified by Christ. In this he accomplished one of the most important tasks of our times: overcoming the division between human consciousness and Christian consciousness, between living in this temporal world and being open to eternal life, between the beauty of things and God as beauty.”
“Antoni Gaudí did this not with words but with stones, lines, planes, and points,” Benedict said. “Indeed, beauty is one of mankind’s greatest needs; it is the root from which the branches of our peace and the fruits of our hope come forth. Beauty also reveals God because, like him, a work of beauty is pure gratuity; it calls us to freedom and draws us away from selfishness.”
More than 15 years after Benedict’s visit, Leo spoke of the basilica’s new ranking as a continuing proclamation of Christ to the culture of Catalonia, and to the world.
“Let us show in this way that the Sagrada Familia is the tallest church in the world, not so as to stand out in worldly rankings, but rather to guide the steps of the People of God who make their pilgrimage in this land of Catalonia,” Leo said. “The Cross illuminating their path, like a lamp burning brightly as we await the return of the Bridegroom.”
“Gaudí takes this to a new level,” wrote Cardinal Pell, even before the Tower of Jesus was completed. “Far beyond anything I expected or had experienced in any of the many beautiful and prayerful churches I have visited. I felt overwhelmed; not by fear, but by the magnificence and holiness. I realised this was a house of God.”
