Maria Wiering, OSV News
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni confirmed to journalists on June 9 that Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny, along with his family and some friends, had met Pope Leo XIV at the famous Bernabeu soccer stadium in Madrid.
Bad Bunny “comes from a Catholic family and wanted to meet the Pope, so the organizers found the venue inside the Bernabeu stadium, as it was the only day (while the Pope was in town) when there was no Bad Bunny concert at Atletico Madrid's rival stadium,” Yago de la Cierva, general coordinator of the papal trip to Spain, explained to OSV News.
On the papal flight to Madrid on June 6, Pope Leo was asked how he felt about the prayer vigil with young people that night coinciding with Bad Bunny's sold-out concert in the same city.
Do you want to go see Bad Bunny or the Pope? Prediction of Leo XIV
Pope Leo responded, “If you put the question to them, ‘Do you want to go see Bad Bunny or the Pope,’ I think many will go to see Bad Bunny. But I think there will also be people there to see the Pope. And that also says something. So I think it's encouraging and I hope we encourage young people to keep looking.».
Pope Leo's prediction that some young people would elect the Pope was remarkably fulfilled that night, as approximately 500,000 people joined him in Madrid's Plaza de Lima for a “festival of faith” that included music, testimonies and Eucharistic adoration. On June 7, the papal Mass and Eucharistic procession celebrating the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, the liturgical feast celebrating the body and blood of Christ, drew more than 1.2 million people to downtown Madrid (other sources put the attendance as high as 1.5 million).
On June 8, Pope Leo joined 80,000 people at the Bernabeu stadium for music, testimonies and prayer. The crowd roared with cheers and chants of praise, erupting repeatedly with shouts of “¡Papa León!” and “Olé, olé, olé!”.
Vatican confirmation, agreement
Pope Leo met briefly with Bad Bunny at the Bernabeu stadium along with his family and some friends, the Vatican spokesman said. Beyond confirming the meeting, the Vatican did not provide further details or images.
“The agreement was: meeting, yes, but no photos, and Bad Bunny respected that,” De la Cierva told OSV News.
“If photos of the meeting were to start circulating, it would ‘hijack’ the beautiful event with the archdiocesan community of Madrid,» he added, describing the meeting as “friendly and family-like,” adding that Bad Bunny greeted the Pope with his family.
According to Religion News Service, Bad Bunny attended part of the Papal event from a booth in the stadium.
Benito Ocasio Martinez, most listened to global artist, according to Spotify
Bad Bunny, the 32-year-old 2026 Super Bowl halftime performer whose real name is Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, is known as the «King of Latin Trap» for his innovative blend of Spanish-language reggaeton with Latin trap, a style of hip-hop.
He is consistently among the most listened to artists worldwide, and Spotify has named him the platform's most listened-to global artist four times since 2020. He is the first and only artist to have earned this distinction.
Since 2021, he has won six Grammy Awards, including “Album of the Year” sung in a language other than English, and has had four of his albums, entirely in Spanish, reach number one on the all-genre U.S. Billboard 200 chart, defying the industry's language barriers. In 2025, Billboard named him “The Biggest Pop Star” of that year.
Although he generates controversy for his gender-defying style of dress, sexualized lyrics and outspoken defense of immigration, he is applauded for his commitment to his Puerto Rican identity and his promotion of Latino culture.
Raised in the Catholic faith, catechist mother
According to the Catholic Extension Society, the singer was raised in the Catholic faith and attended Holy Trinity Parish in Vega Baja, a church built in 1980 with Catholic Extension funds, where he first sang publicly in the parish choir. His mother is a volunteer catechist for children at the parish.
Bad Bunny concerts in Madrid: 60,000 people per night
Bad Bunny's June 6 concert in Madrid attracted some 60,000 people as part of his popular «DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS» world tour. It was one of 10 scheduled in the Spanish capital that began on May 30, each of which attracted some 60,000 people per night.
Billboard magazine reported that this series of concerts is one of the biggest music events of the summer in Spain. Bad Bunny is expected to perform in Madrid on June 10, 11, 14 and 15 before continuing with the European leg of his tour.
Pope Leo arrived in Madrid on June 6 to begin a seven-day apostolic visit to Spain. After celebrating Corpus Christi on June 7 and meeting with the Spanish Parliament on June 8, he arrived in Barcelona on June 9, where he blessed the tower of Jesus Christ in the city's Sagrada Familia basilica yesterday, June 10, before visiting migrant reception centers in the Canary Islands. He is scheduled to return to Rome on June 12.
Mass in the morning, concert in the evening
«A few days ago, in a debate prior to the Papal trip, participants said that Bad Bunny could attract a total of 700,000 people in all his concerts in Madrid,» said the trip organizer. «I responded to them that that's great, but that the Pope will bring together three times as many people in a single event,» De la Cierva stressed.
“The two daughters of (Their Majesties) King Felipe and Queen Letizia attended the Mass in the morning and the Bad Bunny concert in the evening,” he added. “That is also a sign of the spirit of encounter and connection that we have had here in Madrid in the last few days.”.
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- Maria Wiering is the editor of OSV News. Paulina Guzik, international editor of OSV News, and Margaret Murray, associate digital editor of OSV News, contributed to this story.
