Pope Leo XIV presides over a Mass marking the Catholic feast of Corpus Christi at Plaza de Cibeles in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, June 7, 2026, on the second day of his seven-day apostolic go to to mainland Spain and the Canary Islands.
Manu Fernandez/AP
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Manu Fernandez/AP
MADRID — Pope Leo XIV honored Spain’s centuries-old custom of spiritual devotion on Sunday as a “college of religion” for as we speak, as he presided over a Mass earlier than 1,000,000 individuals and highlighted some of the iconic expressions of Spanish widespread piety with a procession over flower-petal carpets.
The group cheered and shouted “That is the youth of the pope!” as Leo arrived for the Mass at a central Madrid plaza. He looped across the plaza and surrounding streets in his popemobile to a crowd packed a number of rows deep of individuals desperate to witness the primary papal go to in 15 years.
Sunday’s Mass fell on the Catholic Corpus Domini feast day, which regularly options processions of trustworthy by cities and cities led by a priest carrying the Eucharist. In Spain as in different predominantly Catholic nations, the processions usually function elaborate floral carpets organized alongside the route.
In keeping with Spanish organizers, the 16 flower carpets adorning the half-kilometer (mile) procession route off Plaza Cibeles had been ready by a Spanish florists affiliation from Galicia. Florists used greater than 30,000 flowers, most the yellow and white colours of the Holy See flag, for the carpets that function decorations such because the Holy See keys.
Leo, who arrived in Spain on Saturday firstly of his weeklong go to, has been eager to spotlight the lengthy custom of Catholic devotion right here to encourage particularly younger generations to seek out their religion in a once-staunchly Catholic nation the place non secular observance has largely been on the wane.
In his homily Sunday, Leo honored Spain’s custom of the Corpus Domini processions, saying the floral carpets categorical the “non secular sentiments of this nation” by “altars erected within the streets.”
“This isn’t an exhibition, a remnant of folklore or a easy show of magnificence,” he mentioned. “It’s a career of religion within the presence of the risen Lord, who’s alive and continues to stroll amongst us.”
He mentioned the continued observance of such devotional practices factors to what Spain can and needs to be for the world.
“Herein lies the duty of Spain as we speak and sooner or later: to make sure that the religiosity which has formed and outlined this nation for hundreds of years just isn’t a museum of the previous to be visited, however a college of religion from which to attract even as we speak,” he mentioned.
On the finish of the Mass, Leo carried a gilded monstrance, or container, holding a Eucharistic host and walked over the floral carpets, as kids dropped extra petals earlier than him and the gang tossed petals from behind the barricades.
Pope Leo XIV greets a baby upon arriving within the popemobile at Plaza de Cibeles for a Holy Mass and Corpus Christi procession in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, June 7, 2026, on the second day of his seven-day apostolic go to to mainland Spain and the Canary Islands.
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Andrea Comas/AP
A vigil attracts large crowds as Leo arrives
The massive turnout in Spain started the day of Leo’s arrival, when an estimated 600,000 younger Spaniards attended a vigil service Saturday evening. They knelt for a number of minutes in silent prayer alongside Leo, suggesting that there’s certainly curiosity within the religion amongst younger individuals regardless of Spain’s closely secularized society.
“Let me take the chance to inform all of you: Do not ever be afraid of eager about a vocation to the priesthood or non secular life, or different companies within the church!” Leo advised the gang.
Irati Valda and Javier Hormazal, a younger couple, held up a cardboard signal saying they’re going to get married on June 13 and had been ushered up near obtain Leo’s blessing in the course of the vigil.
“To see so many younger individuals collectively, it is unimaginable. Half 1,000,000 individuals in silence, that is one thing you’ll solely stay as soon as,” Valda mentioned.
Folks look forward to the arrival of Pope Leo XIV forward of a Holy Mass and Corpus Christi procession at Plaza de Cibeles in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, June 7, 2026, on the second day of his seven-day apostolic go to to mainland Spain and the Canary Islands.
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A type of widespread piety relationship again centuries
For Sunday’s Mass and procession, native organizers mentioned 1.2 million individuals had turned out on an excellent spring morning on the central plaza and surrounding streets, with extra attempting to get in.
The custom of laying flower carpets — and destroying them when the procession tramples them — dates again two centuries and is widespread additionally in Latin America, the place elaborate sand designs are additionally made. The painstaking shows are thought-about an providing to the Eucharist.
Poland has already had its custom of Corpus Domini flower carpets acknowledged by UNESCO, and Spain’s Galicia area is attempting to have its custom listed together with different nations as a part of the world’s intangible cultural heritage.
Wildly widespread non secular processions, pilgrimages and feasts proceed to be held in most Spanish areas. Essentially the most recognizable are Holy Week processions in the course of the closing week of Lent the place brotherhoods and robed penitents parade ornate statues of Christ and the Virgin Mary by cities, cities and villages alongside marching bands. Such processions draw the trustworthy in addition to droves of non-believers and vacationers.
Spanish cities and cities additionally commonly honor native patron saints with fiestas. Non secular pilgrimages to native shrines combine piety with communal festivities and music. In Andalusia, the El Rocío pilgrimage fetches 1,000,000 those that make an extended, dusty journey over the Pentecost weekend on horseback and adorned coated wagons to venerate an icon of the Virgin Mary.
Leo arrived in Spain on Saturday and urged its individuals to place an finish to polarization and work for unity. Later Sunday he’s to fulfill privately with members of his Augustinian non secular order and deal with cultural leaders.
