It started as a joke or a rumor, and in the end it happened: Bad Bunny and the Pope met. It finally happened this Monday at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium in Madrid, as confirmed by the Vatican. The Puerto Rican has coincided with the pontiff during the artist’s world tour, which has accumulated 10 dates in the capital. Leo XIV’s trip to Spain happens in the middle of this series of concerts.
That’s why it hasn’t caught (almost) anyone by surprise. Since this curious coincidence became known in Madrid, thousands of predictions and expectations of a possible meeting were raised and finally, it has occurred. Bad Bunny attended with his family and other people, whom the pontiff briefly greeted before leaving the stadium. The Vatican has noted that, despite the meeting, no photos were taken of the two together.
Both have starred in simultaneous events this weekend and while Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio gave his fifth and sixth concert, the pontiff attended the Youth Prayer Vigil held in the Plaza de Lima. On Sunday the 7th, Leo XIV presided over the meeting Weaving networks with the world of culture, education, business and sport. In fact, the pontiff himself joked upon his arrival in Madrid about the “competition” that both waged in the capital, pointing out that, although many would go to see the singer on Saturday, there would also be “a few to see the Pope,” noted Robert Prevost when asked by CNN correspondent in the Vatican, Christopher Lamb.
The archbishop of Madrid and vice president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, José Cobo, had already hinted at a possible rapprochement, which has finally been satisfied. Several weeks ago, before the 12 concerts that the Puerto Rican artist offers in Spain, Bad Bunny’s representation agency contacted the Episcopal Conference to set up some type of meeting between the artist and the Pope, as Televisión Española announced. In fact, it was proposed that Benito participate in the mass mass in front of the Madrid City Hall, in the Plaza de Cibeles, before more than a million people. It was planned that the singer would attend the Eucharist, although, in the end, it did not happen. According to the American journalist Elise Ann Allen in her biography of Pope Leo XIV, Citizen of the world. Missionary of the 21st century (Debate), parishioners of Chiclayo, Peru, where Prevost was bishop, remember that he participated in parties and danced salsa.
Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, stage name Bad Bunny, grew up in a Catholic environment in Puerto Rico, and was even an altar boy and sang in the church choir. In his songs there are references to a certain spirituality, he has stated in interviews that he believes in God, but he does not define himself as a practicing Catholic.