It looks like the name of a fighter-bomber, but in reality it is the acronym used by young people to call Pope Benedict XVI, in sms language. The German pope is coming to Santiago and Barcelona. What for? He had wanted to go before, with his brother Georg, both to Santiago de Compostela and to the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona; but it had not been possible until now. But he doesn't come as just another tourist, but as a pilgrim. Whoever goes on the Camino is someone who goes to pray, to learn, to go deeper. This is what Benedict XVI will do at the tomb of the apostle.

John Paul II went on pilgrimage to Santiago in 1989, with young people from all over the world. There he said those famous words: "Europe, be yourself". He was referring to the inevitable Christian roots of the old continent. Ratzinger is also a convinced European. He thinks, however, that Europe has suffered the well-known "rapture of Europe", whereby we renounce our own origins. And a tree without roots withers. Benedict XVI goes, like so many Germans who walk the Way of St. James, as a pilgrim and as a European.

Joining past and future, he will then go to Barcelona, to the Sagrada Familia, "cathedral of Europe". A cathedral in plenary session of the Executive Council XXI century, with universal scope. Gaudi attracts real armies of tourists, with a work full of faith and beauty. Ratzinger said that the main argument for evangelizing a postmodern world today is the beauty of Christian art and the life of the saints. The "architect of God" could unite these two facets, if his beatification process comes to fruition.

There, the German pope will speak about life and family in a somewhat hostile world. He will then visit a home for children with Down Syndrome. A hymn to life and to the family that sustains us. He is not just a tourist. He is not a simple tourist. He is a pilgrim who comes to pray, to talk and listen, as he usually does. Let us welcome him with the hospitality that we dispense to pilgrims. Also with our best wishes: ultreya!