Benedict XVI arrives in Barcelona
Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Barcelona aboard an Iberia flight from Santiago de Compostela Saturday night and was welcomed at the city's El Prat international airport by Jose Montilla, President of the Generalitat of Catalunya, the autonomous region's government, and Church officials led by the Archbishop of Barcelona, Cardinal Lluis Martinez Sistach.
Arriving at the Archbishop's Palace where he is spending the night, the Pope addressed a sizable crowd that had gathered to await his arrival.
Earlier, there had been another demonstration by dozens of highly secular protesters who oppose everything from the Church's teachings to the cost of the Pope's visit.
The Pope's day starts early tomorrow. He will leave the Archbishop's Palace, located near the Barcelona cathedral, at 9 a.m. to ride teh Popemobile from the Gothic quarter to the Sagrada Familia in the middle of Barcelona's 19th-century extension.
He will meet with the King and Queen of Spain at the church before the 10:00 Mass at which he will consecrate Antonio Gaudi's architectural masterpiece.