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MADRID, Pope Leo XIV has embarked on a weeklong visit to Spain at a politically convenient moment for Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, whose scandal-hit government finds itself on the same side as the pontiff on some of the most contentious issues in global politics.

Pope Leo has become one of the Catholic Church’s most outspoken advocates for migrants, calling on leaders to treat migrants “with dignity” while criticizing the U.S. government’s approach as “inhumane.”

In contrast to many of his European counterparts, Sánchez has defended immigration on both economic and humanitarian grounds, and his government is in the process of regularizing the status of at least 500,000 undocumented migrants.

Similarly, the positions of the two leaders chime on the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran. Pope Leo has labeled the war “unjust,” while Sánchez habitually calls it “illegal.”

After meeting the pontiff in the Vatican in late May, Sánchez praised Pope Leo’s voice as a “moral compass” and said he believed the pair were “very much on the same wavelength” on migrants.

The convergence is notable because Sánchez has clashed with parts of Spain’s Catholic hierarchy over social issues, particularly abortion. In different ways, both men have become symbols of resistance to the nationalist politics associated with Donald Trump and Europe’s populist right.

“Sánchez has taken a stance on matters that overlap with the pope’s doctrine and that reinforces his government’s messages on certain issues where the right is divided,” said Pablo Simón, a political scientist at Madrid’s Carlos III University. “This has created a peculiar alliance.”

“There is a lot of harmony on the migration issue,” said a Vatican official, granted anonymity to speak frankly.

The ideological overlap reflects a broader shift within the Spanish Church itself.

‘Not so naïve’

Traditionally, the Catholic Church in Spain has been closer to the conservative People’s Party (PP) than to the left. During the premiership of Socialist José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, bishops led street protests against reforms on same-sex marriage and abortion.

But Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, made it a priority to reshape the Spanish hierarchy, appointing bishops who were “more pastoral than ideological,” according to the Vatican official.

As a result, today’s Church leadership is often less confrontational toward Sánchez than previous generations of bishops.

The shift is less evident among ordinary Catholics, who tend to be more conservative and are not natural supporters of the prime minister, the official added.

Some conservatives are concerned that Leo is being exploited by Sanchez, the Vatican official said, but saw such worries are misplaced. “The pope is not so naïve.”

The change is visible in the relationship between the government and the Church.

“When the governing party is on the right, relations with the Church tend to be better than when the left is in power,” said Carlos Espaliu, lecturer in international law and international relations and head of the Tomás Moro observatory at the CEU Fernando III University.

“But, right now, relations with this government are better than they have been with other Socialist administrations.”

Touchstone issues

The Catholic Church has not changed its position on previously divisive issues such as same-sex marriage, abortion or euthanasia, Simón said, but these issues “are not on the political agenda, because in some cases they have become normalized, they are no longer debated and part of the right has even accepted them,” he said.

The divisive issues today “are migration and international conflict,” Simón said, and on those questions the pope is much closer to the positions of the Spanish left.

Leo’s visit comes at a delicate moment for Sánchez, whose embattled Socialist-led government is under attack from an ascendant far right that has capitalized on concerns over migration and identity.

The alignment of Leo and Sanchez on touchstone issues makes the visit somewhat uncomfortable for the opposition PP, which under pressure from the far-right Vox has shifted to a more hardline position against immigration in recent months.

PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo has struggled to find a clear position on Iran, first attacking Sánchez’s anti-war stance before appearing to distance himself from the United States-Israel offensive.

Paradoxically, the far-right Vox, which claims to defend traditional Catholic values and has in the past staunchly opposed abortion, has recently had a difficult relationship with the Church. The ultra-nationalists frequently referred to Pope Francis as “Citizen Bergoglio” and in recent months they have attacked Spanish bishops’ support of the government’s migrant amnesty. In a meeting with the Spanish bishops last November, Leo expressed concerns about the church being hijacked by political ideologies.

The pope kicked off an unusually long visit to Spain on Saturday in Madrid and will then travel to Barcelona, where he is due to meet prisoners and bless the Sagrada Família basilica’s new tower. He is also expected to meet with victims of clerical sexual abuse.

His trip concludes in the Canary Islands, chosen because of their significance as a major point of entry to Europe for African migrants, more than 3,000 migrants died trying to reach Spanish shores last year, according to the NGO Caminando Fronteras, and where he will meet some of those who have made the dangerous crossing.

The visit is an opportunity for Pope Leo to boost the Catholic cause in one of its historic hubs, where church-going has been in decline for decades. Just over half of Spaniards describe themselves as Catholic, although only 12 percent of believers go to church every Sunday, according to the Center for Sociological Research (CIS). Yet recent studies suggest a slight rise in faith and churchgoing among young people, particularly men.

Hannah Roberts reported from Rome.