---
title: "Watery end to Pope's Spanish visit"
description: "It ended with a whimper, rather than a bang. The Pope's trip to Spain concluded on Sunday with rain washing out his address to a million young Spaniards at a Madrid airfield, bringing to a close a visit that the Vatican will struggle to see as a success. By REBECCA DAVIS."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Politics"
author: "Rebecca Davis"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/rebeccadavis-2-2/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2011-08-22-watery-end-to-popes-spanish-visit/"
published: "2011-08-22T06:38:25"
updated: "2013-02-01T20:07:49"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 265
---

# Watery end to Pope's Spanish visit

> It ended with a whimper, rather than a bang. The Pope's trip to Spain  concluded on Sunday with rain washing out his address to a million young  Spaniards at a Madrid airfield, bringing to a close a visit that the  Vatican will struggle to see as a success. By REBECCA DAVIS.

By Rebecca Davis · Published 22 August 2011, 08:38 SAST · Updated 1 February 2013, 22:07 SAST

## Content

The Pontiff's trip was intended to help bolster sharply declining numbers of church-attending Catholics in Spain. But the four-day visit to Spain was mired in controversy from the start. It was estimated that the cost of the Pope's trip would run to well over 50 million euros, at a time when Spain is suffering an economic crisis which sees unemployment running at 45% among those under 25 years old. Last Wednesday 5,000 representatives from over 100 groups chose to "welcome" the Pope with protests, uniting under the slogan "The Pope's visit – not with my taxes". Truncheon-wielding riot police had to disperse the protestors when a march turned violent, with 11 people injured. Gay rights groups also seized the chance to show the Pope what they think of his stance on gay marriage, planning a gay kiss-in on the route travelled by the Popemobile on Thursday.

Yet some pointed out that the media’s focus on the protests overlooked the fact that the Pope was nonetheless capable of attracting a million Spaniards hoping to receive a blessing from him. Blogging for The Guardian, Andrew Brown suggested this elision was partly attributable to a “consciously anti-Catholic bias” in the media and partly to the fact that religious pilgrims are considered “quintessentially unfashionable”.

With rain putting an end to the only potential feel-good story to come out of the visit, though, the Vatican will have their work cut out to spin the trip as a PR triumph. **DM**

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**Read more:**

- The pope draws 1.5 million young people to Madrid – but that's not news? in [The Guardian](http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/andrewbrown/2011/aug/18/pope-madrid-world-youth-day).