On Friday, the Casa de Su Majestad el Rey announced that Their Majesties King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain will be received in audience by His Holiness Pope Leo XIV at the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican on March 20th, 2026.

Following the audience, His Majesty the King will formally assume the position of Protocanon of the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.  

The honorary title of Protocanon of the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore is traditionally held by the Kings of Spain, a distinction historically associated with the Crown of Spain’s longstanding patronage of the basilica.

Their Majesties previously met His Holiness on Sunday, May 18th, 2025, following the Holy Mass for the Beginning of the Petrine Ministry of the Bishop of Rome, commonly referred to as the Mass for the Inauguration of the Pontificate of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, celebrated in St. Peter’s Square, when they extended an invitation to His Holiness to visit the Kingdom of Spain.

The Casa de Su Majestad el Rey also announced that His Holiness is scheduled to undertake his first Apostolic Visit to the Kingdom of Spain from June 6th to 12th, 2026. 

The visit will make His Holiness the first Pontiff to travel to the Kingdom of Spain during the reign of King Felipe VI. It will also mark the first papal visit to the country in fifteen years, following the visit of the late Pope Benedict XVI in 2011.

The visit responds to the official invitation of King Felipe VI and the Conferencia Episcopal Española.

Their Majesties’ most recent audience at the Vatican prior to this took place in June 2014, when they were received by the late Pope Francis.