This is the moment when Pope Leo XIV paused to pray at the tomb of Antonio Gaudí in the Basilica of the Sagrada Família. The moment was historic for two reasons: first, no pope had ever previously visited the tomb; second, Pope Leo's visit comes during the one-hundred year anniversary of the death of the so-called “Architect of God."
Although Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI visited the Sagrada Familia in 1982 and 2010, respectively, Leo XIV is the first one to descend into the crypt to pay tribute to the architect of the cathedral and to visit his tomb. During the pontiff’s fourth apostolic journey, he blessed the basilica’s tallest tower. Standing 172 meters high, the Sagrada Família is now the tallest church in the world.
