More than a million people filled Madrid’s streets and central squares on Sunday morning, eager to witness Pope Leo’s procession to an open-air Mass, the largest event of his week-long visit to Spain.
As Pope Leo’s popemobile travelled down the city’s main thoroughfare, Paseo de la Castellana, towards Cibeles Square – where he was due to preside over the Mass – jubilant crowds waved flags and chanted, “Long live the Pope.” Some onlookers tossed flower petals upon his arrival.
The Vatican and local organisers confirmed an estimated 1.2 million individuals were present across the square and its surrounding streets.
“May Madrid remain a welcoming and inclusive city, where social life is inspired by genuine human values,” Leo wrote in a guest book as he was handed the key to the city by its mayor.
Leo began his trip on Saturday with meetings with migrants and the homeless and a vigil with about 600,000 young people in Madrid. His June 6-12 visit also includes stops in Barcelona and the Canary Islands, where he will meet migrants who have risked their lives crossing there from West Africa.
He said he hoped the visit, his first to an EU country outside Italy, would set an example to the world about respecting “every human being” and urged leaders to stop dividing electorates.
“I am delighted that he is praying for us migrants and for our safety,” said Andrea Margarita, a 72-year-old Peruvian who arrived in Spain six months ago, as she waited in the crowd in a wheelchair with her daughter.
After Mass, Leo was scheduled to hold a private meeting with fellow members of his Augustinian religious order in the afternoon before meeting figures from the world of entertainment, sport and culture at a concert venue in central Madrid.