Pope Leo XIV has blessed the newly completed Jesus Christ tower at Antoni Gaudí's Sagrada Família basilica in Barcelona, marking the end of a construction journey that began 143 years ago. The ceremony, attended by Spain's King Felipe and Queen Letizia, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, and hundreds of bishops, saw the basilica officially reach its full height of 172.5 metres — making it both the world's tallest church and Barcelona's tallest building. Before the solemn Mass, Leo lit a candle and prayed at Gaudí's tomb in the basilica's crypt.
Speaking in both Spanish and Catalan, the pope described the building as more than a monument. "This basilica is a work in progress, which reminds us that the path that Christ has shown us is a journey that never ends," he said, adding: "We can never believe in a Jesus that wants us to make war or murder innocents." He sprinkled the 172-metre tower with holy water before a spectacular closing ceremony featuring a light and fireworks show. An estimated 70,000 people lined the papal route through the city, and thousands more followed the Mass on screens inside and outside the vast church.
Wednesday also marks the centenary of Gaudí's death. The Catalan architect, often called "God's architect", took over as lead architect of the Sagrada Família in 1883 and dedicated the final twelve years of his life to the project, conceiving it as a "bible in stone" intended to draw Barcelona's industrial working classes back to faith. When he died in 1926, only a quarter of the building was complete. Last year, Pope Francis declared him "venerable", an early step on the road to sainthood — a process that Leo's visit may reinvigorate, particularly if the basilica becomes a site of pilgrimage.
The completion of the tower has not, however, silenced longstanding controversy over the building's direction. Critics, including architect and art historian Carolina García-Estévez, argue that modern construction methods and the drive to finish the building — partly for commercial reasons, since a completed basilica commands higher admission prices from the roughly five million annual visitors — have diluted Gaudí's original vision. She is particularly critical of a lift installed inside the cross atop the tower: "You should not be able to enter a symbol," she said. Stonemason Jordi Barbany, whose family firm has worked on the site for generations, disagrees, arguing that the building's evolution alongside society is itself faithful to Gaudí's spirit.
Despite reaching its full height, the Sagrada Família is not yet finished. Completion of the Glory facade — the main entrance — is still expected to take at least a decade, and plans for a grand ceremonial stairway remain deeply contentious, as they would require the rehousing of between 1,000 and 10,000 residents depending on the scheme adopted. For now, the basilica stands as a rare convergence of the sacred and the civic: a global landmark, a living construction site, and, for one day at least, the centre of the Catholic world.