By Joshua McElwee and Joan Faus
BARCELONA, June 10 (Reuters) - Pope Leo was set to visit Barcelona's Sagrada Familia on Wednesday to inaugurate the newest of its soaring geometric spires that makes the modernist marvel designed by Antoni Gaudi the world's tallest church.
Leo, after celebrating Mass inside the vast, light-infused church at 7:30 p.m. (1730 GMT), will walk outside to bless the 172.5-metre (566 ft) Tower of Jesus Christ, crowned with a five-storey ceramic cross visible across the Catalan capital.
The moment, charged with religious symbolism, comes on the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's death and is a centrepiece of Leo's week-long tour of Spain, where he has warned that escalating conflicts have pushed the world into a profound crisis.
STEP TOWARDS SAINTHOOD
Leo's is the third visit by a pope to the basilica and comes a year after the Vatican, whose media portal has called Gaudi "God's architect", approved an important step towards sainthood for the visionary.
Gaudi, born in 1852, was a devout Catholic who worked for more than 40 years on the Sagrada Familia, from 1883 until he died in a tram accident in 1926.
Completing the massive project, which has three facades in different architectural styles and 18 nature-inspired towers, has been challenging. It was meant to be finished this year, but the goal has now been pushed back to 2035.
The basilica, Gaudi's magnum opus, and six of his other works, are UNESCO heritage sites and draw millions to Barcelona each year. Last year, 4.9 million people visited the church, a new record, with entry fees funding its ongoing construction.
POPE TELLS MONKS NOT TO GOSSIP ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Earlier on Wednesday, Leo visited one of Spain's largest penitentiaries, becoming the first pope to visit a prison in the country.
The pope, an advocate for the rights of prisoners, urged the inmates at Brians 1 to make amends for their crimes and commit to living better lives.
Leo said a person's past "does not condemn the future but rather offers the possibility of changing our decisions and choices".
The pope also made a visit to the Benedictine abbey in Montserrat, nestled in a mountain about 60 km (40 miles) from Barcelona, where he urged the monks "to renounce hurtful words, hasty judgment, gossip and slander", including on social media.
Leo also spoke again briefly in the Catalan language, nodding to the northeastern Spanish region's unique identity.
"That a pope, who is such an important person worldwide, talks to people in Catalan gives (me) goosebumps," said Montserrat Cerdeira, 54, outside the abbey.
(Reporting by Joshua McElwee and Joan Faus; Writing by Charlie Devereux; Editing by Alison Williams)
