Crowds turn out in Barcelona for pope blessing Sagrada Família’s final tower | Pope Leo XIV

It’s been a long wait, but 144 years after work began, Pope Leo XIV blessed the recently completed central tower of Antoni Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia in the presence of members of the Spanish royal family, the prime minister and hundreds of bishops.

With the completion of the Tower of Jesus Christ, the largest of the temple’s 18 towers, the basilica reached its full height of 172.5 meters. It is now not only the tallest church in the world but also the tallest building in Barcelona. It was blessed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010.

Speaking in Spanish and Catalan after the Divine Liturgy, the Pope said that more than a monument, “this basilica is a work in progress and reminds us that the path Jesus showed us is a journey that never ends.” He added: “We can never believe that there is a Jesus who asks us to wage war or kill innocents.”

Before Wednesday’s mass, Leo lit a candle and prayed at Gaudí’s tomb in the basilica’s crypt.

Ten hours before his passing, the faithful were already choosing their places along the pope’s route.

Ramón and Marisa from L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, both draped in Vatican flags, were among those who arrived early to drink in the atmosphere. “We come from the generation of John Paul II, and Leo reminds us a lot of him,” Marisa said. “We are very happy that he came to Barcelona.”

Ramón said the Sagrada Familia gave him goosebumps. “Gaudi deserves to be sainted just for building it,” Marisa said. “This is a divine structure.”

A few blocks away, Venezuelan Rosmira Pasadis said she brought some fruit and water to get through the long wait.

“This pope is very charismatic and especially skilled at communicating with young people,” he said. “His visit is important to me not only because I am a Catholic, but also because we hope he will call for the release of political prisoners in Venezuela and for our freedom.”

Security measures, including the closure of several metro stations and streets, have brought the city to a halt, with only invited guests able to go near the Sagrada Familia.

But nearby souvenir shops were doing steady business, selling pope memorabilia as well as the usual collections of Gaudiana tastes.

Police estimated that 70,000 people would line the route during the pope’s short trip; that number was fewer than in Madrid and fewer than the 650,000 people who attended the victory parade of FC Barcelona’s players after winning the Spanish league in May.

Wednesday marks the centenary of the death of Gaudí, whom biographer Gijs Van Hensbergen described as “a man of medieval spirit and avant-garde mind.”

Gaudí, often known as God’s architect, devoted the last 12 years of his life to work on the Sagrada Familia.

At a time when many in Barcelona were turning away from religion, Gaudí said he wanted to create a church for everyone, a “bible in stone”, so local people and scenes from daily life were depicted among more traditional religious imagery.

According to industrial historian James Douet, “Sagrada Familia was designed to bring Barcelona’s disaffected industrial working classes back to their Catholic faith, to distract them from the anarchist violence and anti-religious hostility that had become characteristic of the city, and in some way to atone or atone for the sins of its inhabitants”.

Blessing the towers was the last stop in Leo’s busy Barcelona schedule, which included an audience with the Catalan president Salvador Illa, a visit to a high-security prison, the recitation of the rosary at the monastery in Montserrat and a call for Catalan unity in Spanish and Catalan.

Although the Sagrada Familia has reached its full height, the Glory façade of the main entrance is still a decade away from completion, followed by the construction of the controversial grand staircase, which will require the rehousing of 1,000 to 10,000 people, depending on which plan is implemented.

It is inevitable that the debate will continue as to whether what we see today has anything to do with what Gaudí intended. As long ago as 1965, a group of artists and architects, including Le Corbusier, Ricardo Bofill, and Joan Miró, said work on the basilica should be stopped, citing “the mediocrity of the organizers who used Gaudí to put their stamp on the original work to the detriment.”

But Jordi Faulí, the architect tasked with completing the work, says Gaudí realized that only a small part of the temple would be built during his lifetime and left detailed drawings and instructions, which—though a few were later lost or destroyed—were sufficient to enable his successors to realize his vision.

The problem of Gaudí’s canonization still remains. Last year, Pope Francis approved a decree declaring the architect “venerable”; this was an early step towards canonization by the Catholic church.

Around 5 million people visit the Sagrada Familia a year, paying over 26 Euros (£22) each, making it good business for the Catholic church. If Gaudí is canonized, this place could become both a pilgrimage site and a tourist destination.

But Mateu Hernández, president of Visit Barcelona, ​​emphasized its secular status, saying the city now has “as global an icon as the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal or the Pyramids.”

Over the century and a half since work on the temple began, Barcelona has remained a city more prone to rebellion than prayer. Time will tell whether Pope Leo’s visit will lead his rebellious citizens back to the path of righteousness.