The leader of Andalusia (map) has invited Pope Francis to visit his autonomous region—a Spanish political entity akin to a province or state.
“An honor to be the first Andalusian president received by the Pope,” Juan Manuel Moreno tweeted following a March 21 audience with the Pontiff. “We are the European territory in which popular religiosity is lived most intensely, and I have invited him to visit Andalusia.”
Moreno is a member of the conservative People’s Party. Two weeks before the audience, on March 7, Pope Francis received the Socialist opposition leader of Catalonia, another Spanish autonomous region.