More than 1.2 million people filled the streets of Madrid yesterday for a mass by Pope Leo XIV at which he called for a renewal of the Catholic faith in Spain.
Spanish King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia joined throngs of devotees waving Spanish and Holy See flags in Cibeles Square for a service filled with religious symbolism.
In his homily, Pope Leo said Spaniards should not look at religion as “a museum of the past to be visited, but a school of faith from which to draw even today.”
Photo: AFP
The mass comes on day two of Pope Leo’s seven-day visit to Spain, a traditional Catholic bastion where religious observance has been declining sharply over the past few years as in much of western Europe.
A huge logistical and security operation was in place for the event, after which the pope led a traditional procession along a route lined with white and yellow carnations — the Vatican flag colors.
There were more than 1.2 million people attending in the square and the surrounding area, organizers said.
Photo: AP
Nico Aldeanueva, 28, who was visiting from Philadelphia, said the pope was “a very unifying force in a moment where we have division across so many different fronts.”
“We have, it seems like, never-ending conflict and for the time being here you get to hit pause and get to enjoy the moment and feel the faith,” Aldeanueva said.
Ana Milagros, 64, who was waving a Vatican flag, said she thought the US-born pope seemed “approachable” and “very sincere.”
“There is a lot of polarization and differences in politics, in social matters, in the economy,” she said, adding that “the pope is trying with this visit ... to help all of us.”
Later yesterday, Leo was to meet the leading figures of culture, sport and the economy at an arena, with the aim of fostering dialogue between faith and modern civil society.
About 56 percent of Spaniards identify as Catholic compared with 90 percent in the 1970s, according to a survey last month by the Centre for Sociological Research, an autonomous government body.
On Saturday, 500,000 mostly young attendees congregated with Leo outside Real Madrid’s Bernabeu stadium for a prayer vigil that stretched into the night.
Leo started his visit with pomp and ceremony at a reception in Madrid’s royal palace, where he called for an end to “polarizing narratives” and “sterile simplifications.”
The pope also praised Spain, whose left-wing government has sparred with his native US as well as Israel over wars in the Middle East, for its “active commitment to peace and solidarity among peoples.”
Leo is due to visit Barcelona tomorrow and Wednesday, where he would bless the Sagrada Familia basilica’s recently completed tower, which made it the world’s tallest church.
His trip is to end with a focus on migration on Thursday and Friday in the Canary Islands, a key destination for irregular arrivals, with thousands dying in the Atlantic Ocean trying to reach them.
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