Star Metro - Pope blesses new tower at Barcelona's Sagrada Familia

A choir of 600 singers performed at the service which lasted around 90 minutes and was attended by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez as well as King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia.

The stained-glass windows in various colours shined brightly in between the tree-like columns of the temple as Leo delivered his homily in Spanish, Catalan and Latin

"We cannot believe in Jesus and promote war. We cannot believe in Jesus and kill the innocent," the pope said in a thinly veiled reference to US President Donald Trump's administration.

At the end of the service, the US-born pontiff blessed the Sagrada Familia's soaring central Jesus Christ tower which was completed in February, bringing the basilica to its maximum height of 172.5 metres (566 feet).

The peak deliberately falls short of the 177 metres (581 feet) of Barcelona's Montjuic hill -- an act of religious respect from Gaudi who believed the hill was the work of God.

The pope gazed up at the tower before sprinkling holy water towards it, then turned to the crowd to do the same as people applauded and cheered.

People crammed windows and on balconies all around the square to watch the scene.

"This cross shines by day, reflecting the sunlight, and shines by night, illuminating the city like a lighthouse overlooking the Mediterranean," the pope said in his homily.

Thousands of people attended the mass inside the building, while outside a huge crowd followed the ceremony on a giant screen installed in front of the Sagrada Familia.

"It seems memorable, something to remember," Isabel Magallón, a 60-year-old administrative worker, told AFP.

"I wanted to be at the event. I hesitated because of the crowds and everything, but I’m glad I came," she said.

- 'Fills me with joy' -

The church is a still-unfinished modernist masterpiece by architect Antoni Gaudi that was visited by nearly five million people last year.

Construction work on the Sagrada Familia began in 1882 and full completion is expected in about a decade.

"To see the tower of the Sagrada Familia completed and blessed by the pope fills me with joy," said María del Carmen Guillaume, 80, who was among 4,000 local residents invited to attend the Mass.

The pope's visit during a week-long trip to Spain coincides with the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's death on June 10, 1926.

The devout Catholic, whose cause for sainthood is advancing in the Vatican, was hit by a tram while on his way to pray at a church.

The Covid-19 pandemic paralysed the tourism industry -- and with it the key source of income of the most-visited of Spain's monuments that charge an entrance fee.

Tourists from around the world are now flooding back, boosting the coffers of the basilica, which relies on the takings as well as private donations.

Yet the contsruction board is reticent to set a new finish date for the remaining work, including the divisive Glory Facade and its four bell towers.

- Completion challenge -

The board's plan to precede the front entrance by a large flight of steps and a square would entail destroying up to two blocks of homes.

The residents have spent years fighting to halt the plan.

Before the Sagrada Familia mass on Wednesday, the leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics visited a prison and an abbey in the Montserrat mountain range overlooking Barcelona.

Pope Leo flew to Spain on Saturday, starting his visit in Madrid where he gave an unprecedented speech to the Spanish parliament and held an open-air mass with 1.5 million people.

He has sought to reinvigorate the Church in a traditional Catholic bastion where religious observance has declined sharply and has promised the Church will do more to tackle what he called the "scourge" of sexual violence by clergy.

After Barcelona, he visits the Canary Islands on Thursday and Friday where he will focus on immigration as the Atlantic archipelago is a key entry point to Europe for irregular migrants.

D.Fraser--SMC