Pope Celebrates Open-Air Mass in Madrid with Royal Family and Over a Million Faithful

(Central News Agency, Madrid, 7th, Combined Foreign Reports) Pope Leo XIV celebrated an open-air Mass in the Spanish capital Madrid today, expected to attract over a million faithful. This is one of the highlights of his one-week visit to Spain.

According to AFP, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain also braved the heat to participate in the event at Cibeles Square alongside a large crowd of worshippers. This is the first papal state visit to Spain since 2010.

Authorities have deployed extensive logistical and security measures, including the construction of a stage, the installation of seven giant screens, 608 loudspeakers, 2,300 portable toilets, 10 water stations, and over 8,000 barriers.

Pope Leo XIV will then lead a procession from Cibeles Square along the famous Gran Via for several hundred meters before turning back. The procession route is lined with a carpet of over 30,000 yellow and white carnations, echoing the colors of the Vatican flag.

After the ceremony, large crowds of faithful from across Spain and abroad are expected to fill the streets of central Madrid for a second consecutive day, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Pope's passing motorcade.

This evening, the Pope will also meet with prominent representatives from the cultural, sports, and economic sectors in a sports arena to foster dialogue between faith and modern civil society.

Yesterday, approximately 500,000 people, mostly young, gathered outside the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, home of football giant Real Madrid, to participate in a prayer vigil with the Pope.

Pope Leo XIV officially began his visit yesterday with a welcome ceremony at the Royal Palace of Madrid. He called on society to stop "polarizing rhetoric" and "empty, unhelpful simplifications."

The Pope is scheduled to visit Barcelona on the 9th and 10th to preside over a blessing ceremony for the recently completed tower of the Sagrada Familia. With the completion of this tower, the Sagrada Familia becomes the tallest church in the world.

The final two days of the visit will focus on immigration issues. The Pope will travel to the Canary Islands, a major entry point for illegal immigration into Europe, where thousands of migrants die each year attempting to cross the Atlantic.