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Pope Leo XIV will visit Spain from June 6–12, making stops in Madrid, Barcelona, the Canary Islands, and Tenerife. This is the ninth time a pope has visited the country. John Paul II visited Spain five times and Benedict XVI traveled there on three occasions.

During this trip, Pope Leo will take part in 20 official events, with some of the most anticipated moments being a large vigil with young people, an open-air Mass celebrating Corpus Christi, and a procession through the streets of Madrid.

Here are 10 things to know about the Church in Spain, with a special focus on areas the Holy Father will be visiting.

1. Spain is the country that sends out the most missionaries.

Spain currently leads the world in sending Catholic missionaries to other countries and is also one of the top financial supporters of the Pontifical Mission Societies. According to the 2024 report of the mission group, Spain has nearly 10,000 missionaries, about 5,000 of whom are active; more than half are women and most serve in the Americas.

2. Pope John Paul II called Spain "Tierra de María" ("Mary's land").

St. John Paul II when he was pope repeatedly referred to Spain as "Mary's land," especially during his 1982 and 2003 visits, pointing to the country's dense network of Marian shrines and devotions. Spain is literally dotted with Marian sanctuaries — from major basilicas to tiny hilltop hermitages — so that almost every region has its own beloved Marian title, feast, and pilgrimage.

3. It's a place of Christian witnesses and martyrs.

The Spanish Civil War left one of the largest "footprints of martyrdom," according to Spanish historian Monsignor Vicente Carcel Orti, in modern Church history, and it has profoundly shaped Spain's map of saints and blesseds. During the war and the wider period of persecution, around 6,832 bishops, priests, religious, and nuns were killed for their faith, along with thousands of lay Catholics who risked their lives to protect clergy and religious.

Out of this mass persecution, the Church has gradually recognized a very large number of martyrs: In 2007, the October beatification of 498 martyrs under Benedict XVI was the single-largest beatification ceremony ever held. By the late 2000s, nearly 1,000 martyrs of the Spanish Civil War had been beatified or canonized.

4. Madrid's cathedral was consecrated by a pope.

One of Madrid's most important Catholic landmarks is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Almudena, which was consecrated by Pope John Paul II in 1993. Such papal consecrations are relatively rare outside Rome, giving the cathedral special significance in Spanish Catholic life. The building remains a focal point for major religious celebrations in the Spanish capital.

Construction of Almudena Cathedral began in 1883 and was not completed until 1993. The century-long project reflects both the enduring importance of Catholicism in Spain and the architectural evolution of the modern era. Today, the cathedral stands across from the Royal Palace of Madrid, symbolizing the historic relationship between church and crown.

5. Madrid's Marian patroness was "hidden in the walls."

Madrid's patron saint is the Virgin of Almudena, whose image is linked to a centuries-old tradition dating back to Spain's medieval period. According to tradition, as Moorish forces invaded the region in A.D. 712, the citizens of Madrid secretly hid their beloved statue of the Virgin Mary inside the thick stone walls of the city's fortress, leaving two lit candles beside it. In 1085, after King Alfonso VI reconquered Madrid, the Christians searched for the statue. While processing around the city walls, a section of the wall miraculously crumbled, revealing the statue perfectly preserved with the candles still burning after centuries.

That same venerable image will be processed through the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium during the Holy Father's meeting with the diocesan community of Madrid on June 8.

6. Spain's royal family has strong ties to the Church.

Spain's royal family maintains strong ties to the Catholic Church, and one of the most visible examples came in 2004 when then-Prince Felipe married Letizia Ortiz in Madrid's Almudena Cathedral. The ceremony highlighted the continued role of Catholic traditions in important national events.

7. Barcelona's most famous church is a catechesis in stone.

The Basilica of the Sagrada Família is more than just an architectural masterpiece — it was built to be a tool of evangelization. Its founders envisioned a church that would communicate the Christian faith through art, symbolism, and architecture, making it one of the world's most distinctive expressions of the Catholic faith.

Visitors to the Sagrada Família encounter a visual retelling of Christianity's central story. The basilica's major façades depict the Nativity, the Passion, and the glory of Christ — which is dedicated to the glory, ascension, and eternal life of God.

The Sagrada Família has become the tallest church building in the world at 566 feet. Despite its immense scale, the basilica was designed to direct attention toward God rather than human achievement.

The famous basilica was originally designed by Francisco de Paula del Villar in 1882. However, Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí took over the project in 1883 and completely transformed the design into a blend of Gothic and Art Nouveau styles, overseeing its construction until his death in 1926. After his passing, several other architects have continued his work with the goal of fulfilling his original vision.

Gaudí deliberately planned the Sagrada Família so that it would remain slightly shorter than Barcelona's nearby Montjuïc hill, because he believed no human work should surpass God's creation.

8. The architect of Sagrada Família may one day be a saint.

Antoni Gaudí was known for his intense personal faith and devotion to the building of the Sagrada Família. The Vatican announced April 14, 2025, that Pope Francis had formally recognized Gaudí's "heroic virtue," a key step in the canonization process. Two miracles attributed to Gaudí's intercession are now required for his canonization.

9. Tenerife's great Marian shrine is the Canary Islands' most important pilgrimage site.

The Basilica of Our Lady of Candelaria in Tenerife is the most important Catholic pilgrimage site in the Canary Islands. For generations, it has served as the spiritual heart of the archipelago and remains a major destination for pilgrims and visitors, drawing roughly 2 million visitors a year.

The basilica is dedicated to the patron saint of the Canary Islands — the Virgin of Candelaria. Tradition holds that the image of the Virgin of Candelaria was venerated by the Indigenous Guanche people before Spain completed its conquest of Tenerife. The Virgin of Candelaria is often associated with the tradition of Black Madonnas — dark-skinned images of Mary that are venerated in various parts of the world.

10. The Canary Islands were an early Catholic outpost.

The Canary Islands are divided into two Catholic dioceses: one centered in Las Palmas and the other in San Cristóbal de La Laguna on Tenerife. These were established in the early 15th century, decades before the evangelization of much of the Americas. This made the islands an important frontier of Catholic expansion during a pivotal period in world history.

Because of their strategic location in the Atlantic, the Canary Islands became a key stopping point for explorers, missionaries, and settlers traveling between Europe and the Americas. As a result, the islands played a notable role in the spread of Catholicism across the New World.

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More than 75,000 people participated in the "Totus Tuus" ("Completely Yours") Marian event held on Saturday, May 30, at the Serra Dourada Stadium in the city of Goiânia, Brazil. According to the organizers, this marked the largest attendance recorded to date. Additionally, more than 18,000 people followed the event via screens set up outside the stadium.

This year, the event featured the pilgrim image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of Latin America, brought from Mexico, accompanied by a reproduction of St. Juan Diego's tilma, upon which the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe miraculously appeared in 1531.

During the event, there were moments of prayer, praise, preaching, artistic performances by Catholic singers, and Mass, celebrated by Archbishop João Justino de Medeiros Silva of Goiânia.

According to its organizers, Totus Tuus is the largest free Marian event in Brazil's central-west region. Held annually since 2015, it is organized by Our Lady of the Assumption Parish with the support of the Archdiocese of Goiânia. It always takes place on the last Saturday of May at the Serra Dourada Stadium.

The reproduction of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which was prominently displayed during the celebration, suddenly fell from a height of more than 16 feet in front of the faithful.

The image is an authorized and certified copy of the tilma housed at the Marian shrine in Mexico City. According to the event organizers, it was created to the same standards of fidelity to the original image and is used for international pilgrimages.

The image of the Virgin, encased in a wooden frame, was mounted on an acrylic stand set up for the celebration when it came loose and fell. Despite the horror at seeing the image fall, it remained intact and suffered no damage.

According to the organizers, the incident "had a strong emotional impact on the participants." Videos of the scene went viral on social media, garnering thousands of views and accompanied by stories of faith, testimonies, and messages of devotion.

Father Marcos Rogério de Oliveira, founder of Totus Tuus and pastor of Our Lady of the Assumption, said that at the moment the image of the tilma fell, they were "praying the rosary and were on the fourth mystery" when he felt "that something was about to happen."

"I spoke with Sister Zélia, who was beside me, and she told me the enemy was furious. That was when it all happened. But in that moment, we were left with a much deeper message: How many times do we fall in life? How many times does our heart ache? And the Virgin seems to tell us: 'Here I am. Rise up.' The tilma fell, yet it remained intact. The same happens to us when we trust in Mary's intercession. We fall, but she helps us stay on our feet. It was a grace that deeply moved the hearts of everyone present," the priest said.

Instagram post

Oliveira said the incident resounded with the faithful as an invitation to trust, persevere, and have certainty in the maternal protection of the Virgin Mary.

"In that moment, we felt in a tangible way that the Mother [of God] was leaving a message for each of us. In every fall in life, ask for her intercession. When your heart aches, cry out to her. The message was given: She crushes the head of the serpent and destroys all enemies. Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us," Oliveira noted.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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The U.S. bishops are urging Congress to reject a bill that would make noncitizens labeled as gang members deportable based on a "reason to believe" standard.

The House Judiciary Committee approved the bill, H.R. 175, on June 3, which sponsor Rep. Tom McClintock, R-California, named the Deport Alien Gang Members Act. House consideration is the next step.

In a letter to Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, Bishop Brendan J. Cahill of Victoria, Texas, said: "This bill is unjustifiably broad and risks implicating the victims of criminal gangs, as well as Catholics and other people of faith serving immigrants in accordance with our sincerely held religious beliefs."

Cahill's letter expressed concern that the bill's low evidentiary threshold would expand deportation authorities in ways that could sweep too broadly.

"In effect, foreign-born religious workers, such as priests and religious sisters, while being compelled as a primary purpose of their vocations to assist with others' basic needs, could be subjected to the designation under section 2(a) of the bill and its corresponding consequences for individuals," said Cahill, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Migration.

U.S. bishops said while governments have a legitimate responsibility to protect the public from criminal activity, immigration policies must also safeguard human dignity, family unity, and fundamental humanitarian protections.

The bishops' opposition to H.R. 175 is consistent with their long-standing approach to immigration policy. While affirming the government's responsibility to protect public safety and secure the nation's borders, the USCCB has repeatedly objected to policies it believes threaten due process or family unity.

U.S. bishops issued a special message in November 2025 warning against "indiscriminate mass deportation," saying such broad actions would harm families, violate human dignity, and ignore the Church's call to protect the vulnerable.

McClintock's legislation would make noncitizens who are believed to be members of a criminal gang deportable and ineligible for certain forms of immigration relief. Supporters of the bill argue that it would strengthen public safety by giving federal authorities additional tools to remove dangerous individuals associated with transnational criminal organizations.

McClintock said: "The bill fills that glaring gap in our nation's defenses. It creates clear grounds of inadmissibility and deportability for aliens who are members of criminal gangs or who have promoted, aided, conspired with, or participated in gang activities."

Raskin, meanwhile, said the administration already has ample authority under existing immigration laws to deny entry to or remove criminal gang members. Current law contains provisions ensuring that convicted criminal gang members are deportable and inadmissible. The Immigration and Nationality Act allows the administration to exclude anyone who seeks to enter the U.S. and intends to engage in any unlawful activity, and it renders deportable any noncitizen who is engaged in criminal activity endangering public safety.

Would this administration use the powers granted to them by the bill to declare Pope Leo as the leader of a criminal gang? Donald Trump has already called the pope weak on crime. Is this the next step?"

Jamie Raskin

Ranking member, House Judiciary Committee

"The Catholic Church has come out forcefully against this government's abuse and mistreatment of migrants," Raskin said at the markup. "Would this administration use the powers granted to them by the bill to declare Pope Leo as the leader of a criminal gang? Donald Trump has already called the pope weak on crime. Is this the next step?"

While U.S. Catholic bishops have repeatedly affirmed the government's responsibility to protect communities from crime and maintain secure borders, they said H.R. 175 lacks sufficient safeguards to ensure that immigration enforcement is carried out justly.

The bishops warned that gang affiliation can be difficult to establish accurately and that individuals may be labeled as gang members based on limited or unreliable evidence. They argued that the legislation could expose immigrants to severe penalties without providing adequate opportunities to challenge accusations made against them.

The conference also raised concerns that the bill would contribute to an enforcement-focused approach to immigration policy rather than advancing comprehensive reforms.

"Given these significant defects, we ask you to reject this bill and to instead work toward meaningful and bipartisan reforms of our immigration system that uphold protections for the vulnerable and ensure religious and humanitarian services can be provided in good faith to all in need," Cahill wrote.

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The Food and Drug Administration's safety investigation of the chemical abortion pill mifepristone, used in most abortions, is progressing, according to a senior FDA official.

The official claimed that a study has been ongoing for months, as first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

"The FDA has been actively working on a science-based safety review of the mifepristone REMS [Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy] for months, as the agency has stated publicly and in court filings," an FDA official said, according to a Department of Health and Human Services statement shared with EWTN News.

"Any reporting suggesting otherwise, including that a study is just being started, is either false or based on a fundamental misunderstanding of how complex scientific safety studies work," the official said.

The study is expected to take a total of six months, according to the Wall Street Journal report. It could be released in July, according to a CBS report.

Throughout Donald Trump's presidency, pro-life advocates have been calling for regulation of the abortion pill mifepristone and for a reinstation of in-person dispensation amid abortion pill poisonings and safety concerns for women.

A 2025 study found that 1 in 10 women experience serious adverse events after taking the abortion pill mifepristone. Studies often have difficulty estimating the exact number of adverse effects due to loose reporting requirements and chemical abortions supplied by companies outside the U.S. healthcare system.

"In 2016, the FDA, under the Obama administration, told abortion providers, hospitals, and emergency rooms that, even if there are complications, they no longer needed to report these 'adverse' events to the FDA, only deaths," Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, told EWTN News. "That action allows abortion proponents to make the outrageous claim that 'mifepristone is safe because no complications have been reported.'"

Tobias celebrated the current move by the FDA.

"We are happy that the FDA is looking into the so-called safety of abortion pills," Tobias said.

But another pro-life group urged the current administration to do more to protect women and children.

When asked about the development, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America urged the administration to settle a case related to the abortion pill, Louisiana v. FDA, "to end mail-order abortion drugs."

"The FDA admits abortion drugs are more dangerous to women than many of them know," the group said in a statement shared with EWTN News. "As many as 1 in 11 women experience serious side effects such as hemorrhage, infection, and sepsis."

"Every month the DOJ waits to settle in Louisiana v. FDA, 15,000 more unborn children die in states with pro-life laws, women experience life-threatening side effects from mifepristone, and abusers obtain abortion drugs to poison women," the statement continued.

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Less than two weeks after Pope Leo XIV published an encyclical warning artificial intelligence (AI) companies against constructing "a new Tower of Babel," the multibillion-dollar AI company Anthropic is calling for a global pause or slowdown in development.

Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark and Anthropic Institute head Marina Favaro published a blog on June 4 warning about a risk of "humans losing control over AI systems" as its own system Claude is reaching the potential to autonomously design its own successor without any human contributions.

"This is called recursive self-improvement," they wrote. "We are not there yet, and recursive self-improvement is not inevitable. But it could come sooner than most institutions are prepared for."

The blog post did not mention the encyclical, but a separate Anthropic co-founder, Chris Olah, met with Leo and sat alongside the pope when the encyclical Magnifica Humanitas was revealed on May 25. Anthropic has engaged in outreach to the Vatican and other religious leaders to help address ethical questions related to AI development.

In the blog post, Anthropic leaders explained that its AI system is taking over a large portion of writing code that designs AI — with its workload growing eightfold every quarter. AI will "become much more capable in coming years," they wrote, and "these trends have huge implications."

"If systems are capable of fully building their own successors, the ways we secure them, monitor them, and shape their behavior all grow much more important," they wrote.

Although Clark and Favaro acknowledged AI has not reached this level yet and they cannot say for certain it will, they wrote: "We do not have good intuitions for what this world would look like" if this occurs, and AI capabilities "eclipse those of humans."

Anthropic's leaders wrote that AI companies should come together to either pause or slow down development "to give ourselves more time to deal with its immense implications." However, this would require global international cooperation among countries and AI companies because "if a slowdown simply lets the least cautious actors catch up technologically, it could leave everyone less safe," they wrote.

"We believe it would be good for the world to have the option to slow or temporarily pause frontier AI development to enable societal structures and alignment research to keep up with the advance of the technology," they added.

Anthropic intends to engage with policymakers, researchers, and other members of the public to discuss these concerns. The company will publish a document based on what comes out of the conversations.

'Disarming' AI

Charles Camosy, a moral theologian at The Catholic University of America who has worked with Anthropic on ethical questions, told EWTN News that Anthropic's statements appear in line with Leo's desire to "disarm" AI, which the pontiff explained as not halting innovation but "preventing it from dominating humanity."

He said Anthropic recognizes the speed of development as "such a problem we all need to slow down here." Such a pause would allow society to "think about what AI should or should not do in the culture," he said.

Camosy pointed to concerns about "outsourcing" teaching, tutoring, parenting, care for the sick, and other human interactions to AI, possibly "undermining the things that … make our humanity magnificent."

He recognized that fierce AI competition among nations and companies "creates a significant roadblock" to global cooperation for slowing everything down, but said: "I've been astonished by how many different kinds of people are interested in this encyclical."

"Many people were kind of waiting for someone to fill the moral space," Camosy said and suggested the Church help lead a global movement that demands ethical AI, and he encouraged the Holy Father to consider a trip to Silicon Valley.

"To many people that sounds hopefully naive," he said. "But I don't see another choice here."

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The Globe and Mail newspaper in Canada, considered the most widely read newspaper in the country, has admitted to a "failure of journalism" in 2021 with its reporting of "mass graves" at the Kamloops Indian Residential School.

In a May 30 editorial, the newspaper's editorial board wrote that the claim that 215 children's remains had been found was "an extraordinary assertion" that "requires proof."

The editorial said the "starting point for the media" in 2021 should have been searching for evidence when the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation issued a press release announcing "confirmation of the remains of 215 children of the Kamloops Indian Residential School" through the use of ground-penetrating radar that identified subterranean anomalies."

"The media, including The Globe and Mail, did not initially scrutinize, much less challenge, that assertion," the editorial said.

The newspaper said the fact of historical crimes committed against Indigenous children at residential schools "does not automatically validate the claims of missing remains being found" or the reference to "mass graves."

The editorial noted that media changed their wording gradually to refer to "possible or probable graves," but said the lesson learned was that "assertions about residential schools should be listened to carefully, and then, just as carefully, held up to scrutiny."

The Globe and Mail also pointed at politicians who made unverified comments, saying then-British Columbia Premier John Horgan called Kamloops "a tragedy of unimaginable proportions," something he "had no way of knowing whether that was true."

Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau "made much more dramatic pronouncements that were also not founded in fact" and ordered the Canadian flag to be flown at half staff at all federal buildings. The flag remained lowered for more than five months.

Although Horgan died in 2024, Trudeau "still has the opportunity to set the record straight," the editorial said. "He has not; neither has the current Liberal [Party] government."

The editorial also said Ottawa has yet to account for hundreds of millions of dollars sent to First Nations to establish whether the soil anomalies are human remains.

In the days leading up to the editorial, The Globe and Mail and the National Post both carried reports about the five-year anniversary of the Kamloops press release. "Since the announcement in 2021, the story of the Tk'emlúps 215 has moved from certainty to ambiguity," one Globe story said.

The National Post's Terry Glavin, who came under fire for his first-anniversary investigative feature "The Year of the Graves: How the World's Media Got It Wrong on Mass Graves," wrote last week that the reconciliation process has been tainted and genuine residential school survivors have suffered most.

Glavin noted that the flawed coverage gave rise to an expanding definition of "residential schools denialism," which he described as a "wholly unique construct" that compares skepticism of residential stories to Holocaust denial.

The Globe's admission was reported by other media — not all of which were supportive of the Globe's editorial. While The New York Post said the "mass-graves scam reveals the cost of media bias," journalist Rachel Gilmore wrote in her Substack column that the editorial had "just fueled residential school denialism."

In 2022, the federal government appointed Kimberly Murray as special interlocutor for missing children and unmarked graves. In an interim report in June 2023, Murray called on lawmakers to consider criminalizing the denial or minimization of the abuses Indigenous children suffered at residential schools.

On June 1, the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights reviewing Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act, voted to amend the bill by adding criminalization of residential school denialism. However, on June 3, the Senate voted down the amendment, according to Juno News.

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Pope Leo XIV received members of German Catholic student associations at the Vatican on June 5, reminding them that they "represent Catholic values in society not as those who carry partisan flags but as representatives of the common good of humanity."

In his address in the Paul VI Audience Hall, the Holy Father also highlighted the principles guiding the associations — of which Pope Benedict XVI was also a member — religion, scholarship, friendship, and homeland.

The Catholic faith has never been a label

In his speech, the pope stressed that "in the face of the despotism and ideologies of the past, the Catholic faith has never been merely a veneer or a label but rather a way of life to be shared in university and in work settings."

He added that the association's communal dimension benefits not only Germany but also all of Europe. For this reason, Leo XIV encouraged students to devote particular attention to study and to promote "our common humanity," especially in light of the challenges posed by the technological revolution.

He underscored that the human person is "always relational and limited, and therefore called to become a task for oneself and a gift to the other."

"Just like the exercise of reason, so too does the light of faith illumine the promises and deceptions of the present time, calling on each person to do their best to help build a just and peaceful society," he continued.

Addressing the associations' members, he reminded them that by following Christ they represent "Catholic values in society not as those who carry partisan flags but as representatives of the common good of humanity."

In this way, he reiterated that "the same Catholic faith strengthens our cooperation, without compromising with the trends of the moment, without placing individualistic preferences ahead of the common tradition of the Church."

He also encouraged them to promote the evangelization of culture, recalling that "the search for truth is a good worth desiring and passing on."

'Truth sets us free'

The pope also praised self-discipline and conversion, noting that "by doing our very best, we become responsible stewards in society without being seduced by careers focused on money."

"Let us rather recognize that culture is the good of humanity: truth sets us free, while falsehood distorts names and things," he warned.

The Holy Father urged the German students to be "witnesses to Christian humanism" and reiterated that "the world is full of meaning and not an inert entity to be shaped arbitrarily or by the thirst for power."

"We, in fact, are not random aggregates of particles but bodies open to transcendence: by directing our thirst for life and justice, for wisdom and love, we discover together the truth in knowing, doing, and believing," he explained.

In conclusion, Pope Leo XIV recalled that the cultural mission of Christians "is to direct society and history toward this pinnacle of a God-centered life."

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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The U.S. bishops are preparing to consecrate the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and are calling on the faithful to reflect on Christ's love.

Ahead of the anticipated event, Catholics should "take a moment to reflect on the title 'Sacred Heart of Jesus'" and what it "truly mean[s]," Archbishop Shelton Fabre of Louisville said in a video message.

"Love and forgiveness are freely given from Jesus' Sacred Heart, encouraging us all to grow into the best disciples we can be across our country," Fabre said.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) released a link for the faithful to watch the consecration Mass online, which will take place June 11 in Orlando, Florida, during the bishops' spring meeting.

The consecration coincides with America's 250th anniversary following the bishops' decision at their fall meeting to consecrate the U.S.

Prior to the consecration Mass and the act of consecration, the bishops will hear numerous reflections on the Sacred Heart from brother bishops.

The relics of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the French sister who experienced visions of Jesus revealing his Sacred Heart, will also be present at the Mass.

As the bishops prepare for the event, Fabre prayed that "Jesus' heart will continue to become the gentle and peaceful center of our lives, embracing our homes, parishes, neighborhoods, and nation, drawing each person into his comforting warmth — especially now when many of us are feeling tired, divided, or lonely."

The "cherished image" of the Sacred Heart of Jesus "reflects Jesus' humanity, love, and devotion to the Father," he said.

"Even more importantly, it reminds us that when we pray, we're not just speaking into the air. We're talking to someone whose heart burns with love for us," he said.

"Every person, including Jesus, has a heart," Fabre said. "Jesus' heart shows us love most tenderly, warmly inviting us to experience it."

"As our country is consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we are all entrusted to his grace. We are also reminded that Jesus is one of us. He has won the victory over sin and death, and he longs for us to come to him," he said.

"Jesus Christ patiently offers us his Sacred Heart in the wounds and challenges of our marriages, families, and friendships amid financial worries or illness, and in our battles with addiction or loneliness," he said.

"Jesus longs for the heartbeat of his love to resound in our world, in our country, and in our lives. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in thee," he said.

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Hundreds of Catholics processed through Williamsburg, Virginia, on the morning of June 5 as the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage made its way through the colonial-era capital city in the eastern part of the state.

A team of priests carried the Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance through the campus of the College of William & Mary, the nation's second oldest university, before finishing in front of the 17th-century Wren Building, the oldest academic building in continuous use in the United States.

Young Catholics carried amplifiers on their backs through which hymns were projected as the procession made its way through the historic area. The faithful sang along with the hymns as they walked.

The Williamsburg event was the latest public display of faith in the national procession, which launched on Pentecost in the Diocese of St. Augustine, Florida, before making its way through Georgia and the Carolinas.

After its route through Virginia — which included stops in Roanoke and Richmond and which will also include a stop in the Diocese of Arlington — the pilgrimage will travel to the Archdiocese of Washington and then further north, stopping in Baltimore; Camden, New Jersey; Portland, Maine; and numerous other dioceses and archdioceses.

'Something that's been going on for centuries'

The procession featured a broad mix of the faithful, including young adults, elderly Catholics, religious sisters, and families large and small.

Tony and Crystal Rivera-Silva came up with five of their children from nearby Newport News. Tony told EWTN News that the family joined their home-schooling group to be a part of the procession.

"I just love it for our children, in particular for them to have this experience that will hopefully draw them to stay in the faith and draw them to love the Lord," Crystal said.

The family has participated in smaller processions in the past, they said, but this was the largest one in which they've ever taken part.

"I was telling the kids as we were processing, 'People have been doing this since the Middle Ages'," Crystal said. "It's just so cool to be a part of something that's been going on for centuries."

Among the clergy present in Williamsburg was Father Michael Herlihey, OFM Cap, who announced as the procession began that he would be hearing confessions at the back of the crowd as it wound its way through the campus.

"I was a chaplain last year on the pilgrimage, and it occurred to me, we're not just bringing one sacrament, we're bringing two," he told EWTN News.

Searching for "creative ways" to bring confession to the faithful, he said he decided to simply begin hearing them during the processions themselves.

"Every procession, I just go to the back of the line and hear confessions," he said.

"I was in Illinois and heard them for three hours, in the middle of a cornfield, in front of a tractor," he said with a laugh.

Andrew Waring, director of the Diocese of Richmond's evangelization office, told EWTN News that the response to the pilgrimage has been "fantastic."

The evangelization office and multiple other diocesan departments have been planning for the event since October 2025, he said.

"They told us in the beginning that the number of registrants would not accurately reflect the number of people that would show up," Waring said. "We're routinely seeing two to three times as many people show up for the events as registered. We filled the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart [in Richmond] yesterday with nearly 600 people. We had 400 people in the procession in downtown Richmond."

Both of the processions in Roanoke and Newport News saw around 500 Catholics turn out, he added.

At a Mass at nearby St. Bede Catholic Church after the procession at which Richmond Bishop Barry Knestout was the principal celebrant, Father Eric Ayers, noted the rich historic significance of the region, which includes not just Williamsburg but Jamestown and Yorktown, all three of which have been pivotal locations in American history.

Ayers, a former Baptist, also recounted the arrival of a Spanish Jesuit missionary group to the area in the late 16th century. "They must have felt great anxiety and vulnerability being far from home, in a new land and culture, so different from their own, isolated, with no one to protect them," the priest said.

"All they had was their faith — and I am sure the tangibility of Christ with them in the Eucharist must have been a great comfort."

"The Eucharist has always been a source of strength and unity in times of challenge and transition," he said.

A Eucharist pilgrimage, meanwhile, "reminds that God is first in our life and in our nation and must be the lens through which we see everything else," he said.

The procession has been greeted by thousands of Catholics along the route, while a group of young adult perpetual pilgrims has accompanied the Blessed Sacrament throughout its entire journey up the coast.

Spearheaded by the National Eucharistic Congress, the excursion is the third major Eucharistic procession to take place in the U.S. in recent years after multiple pilgrimage routes in 2024 ahead of that year's National Eucharistic Congress and an additional procession in 2025 from Indianapolis to Los Angeles.

This year's route coincides with the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States; the 2026 procession has taken the theme "One Nation Under God," a nod to the 75th anniversary of that having been officially added to the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance.

The pilgrimage will finish in Philadelphia during the Fourth of July weekend. A few weeks prior, at their spring plenary meeting, the U.S. bishops will consecrate the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 11.

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