MADRID \u2013 Pope Leo XIV\u2019s central message on his first day in Spain could easily be summed up with the commission he gave young people: \u201cBe human.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, be human: men and women of flesh and blood,\u201d he said, calling on young people to be \u201cnot mere appearances, but trustworthy faces.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking to some 500,000 young people gathered for a prayer vigil in Madrid\u2019s Plaza de Lima for the capstone of a packed first day in the Spanish capital, the pontiff called on them to be \u201cpeople who seek justice because they hunger for it, as for their daily bread.\u201d<\/p>\n
He called on his young audience to be people who seek to live \u201can honest and upright life\u201d and to be \u201cmissionaries of the Gospel amid the material and spiritual poverty of our time, knowing full well that our faith is a way of life that is lived out in charity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Throughout his formal events, Leo issued a clear call for Spain \u2013 and Europe more broadly \u2013 to put ideology and polarization aside and to put the human person at the center of their focus, through values such as solidarity and justice.<\/p>\n
Leo will be in Spain June 6-12, traveling to Madrid, Barcelona, and the Canary Islands, and is expected to touch on issues such as migration, family and life issues, and pay homage to the Catholic roots of a rapidly secularizing nation that was once one of the world\u2019s greatest evangelizers.<\/p>\n
RELATED: In Spain, Leo XIV will reinforce Catholic roots amid rising secularism<\/a><\/p>\n Despite sparking a viral digital dispute en route to Madrid by declaring his loyalties in the country\u2019s biggest soccer rivalry, Pope Leo carried his appeals against polarization and for social action rooted the Gospel throughout his Saturday appointments.<\/p>\n RELATED: Pope acknowledges competition with Bad Bunny in Spain, tells Crux Now about Real Madrid or Barca<\/a><\/p>\n Speaking to civil authorities after paying a courtesy visit to Spanish monarchs King Felipe and Queen Letizia, he invoked Spain\u2019s history of building a \u201cculture of encounter, not confrontation\u201d in light of modern global tensions, and called for everyone \u2013 across the spectrum of political opinion \u2013 to move beyond ideology and focus on the Gospel.<\/p>\n Address to civil authorities: Peace, solidarity, cooperation<\/p>\n \u201cThe message of peace, which at present unfortunately strikes some as na\u00efve and others as confrontational, is welcomed by those who do not shut themselves off in preconceived ideologies, but are rather open to the truth,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n This is ultimately what builds stability and prosperity in a nation, he said.<\/p>\n Referring to the global tendency toward violence, in action and emotions, he said this trend is often rooted in uncertainty and the loss of one\u2019s grounding.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is why, even in public life, we need men and women who can perceive light in the darkness: a new beginning, like the dawn of a truth that as yet blinds us, but which \u2013 if we trust and find peace \u2013 will gently lead us toward itself,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In an age \u201cshaken by terrible imbalances and conflicts,\u201d he said there is a sense of searching for peace, understanding, and an attention toward human dignity capable of building \u201ca civilization of love.\u201d<\/p>\n Leo lamented that \u201cthe temptation to gain popularity by fanning the flames of polarization seems to have grown rather than diminished, and human dignity continues to be violated\u201d in various forms.<\/p>\n This applies to not only the country\u2019s tragic clerical abuse crisis, but also to strong anti-migrant sentiment in Spain and an ongoing push by lawmakers to advance legislation which, similar to what was previously done in France, would enshrine the right to abortion in the country\u2019s constitution.<\/p>\n Facing such challenges, Leo said, \u201c[W]e need culture, interiority, and free quality education; we need transcendence,\u201d and\u00a0invited all citizens \u201cto set aside the divisive and polarizing narratives of your societal reality and history, so as to overcome sterile simplifications through the fruitful appreciation of complexity.\u201d<\/p>\n He said his vision is \u201ca vocation particularly suited to Europe, in which Spain plays a unique and fundamental role.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking to what his predecessor Pope Francis had once dubbed \u201cGrandmother Europe,\u201d Pope Leo said this ability to leave division and polarization behind is a gift that the \u201cOld Continent\u201d can offer to the world if it wishes to maintain its youth.<\/p>\n He alluded to the fears and political narratives that often accompany anti-migrant sentiment throughout Europe and beyond, which will be a focus of his visit to the Canary Islands at the close of his trip to Spain and of his July 4 visit to the Italian island of Lampedusa.<\/p>\n \u201cAppreciating and studying complexity, learning not to deny it but to embrace it as a blessing, and fleeing from identity-based approaches that seem to explain everything yet only fill the world with \u2018ghosts\u2019 and enemies are the tasks of those who are heirs of a great history,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In a reference to the impact of new technologies on society, he stressed the need for a concerted investment in education, saying security, often placed in \u201cweapons and walls,\u201d is instead achieved through collaboration, \u201clearning to move forward alongside one another, growing together, side by side.\u201d<\/p>\n He also invoked Spain\u2019s history of interreligious coexistence and dialogue with Islam and Judaism, saying the creation of space for conversation and dialogue that made these harmonious relations possible still mark Spanish society in modern times.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the truth told by European cities: their historical stratification, the fabric of solidarity that has shaped their differences over the centuries, transforming inevitable conflicts into new beginnings,\u201d he said, stressing also the need to choose \u201cpeace over arms and the saints to the powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c[A]void humiliating or antagonistic words,\u201d the pontiff said, encouraging civil authorities rather to opt \u201cfor a clarity that sheds light and a frankness that unlocks new possibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n