![\"Joyful](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/c1_6114374.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPUBLISHED : 7 Jun 2026 at 08:45<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJoyful believers will likely line the streets of central Madrid again on Sunday to glimpse Leo on his popemobile. (Photo: AFP)\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
MADRID – Pope Leo XIV will celebrate an open-air mass on Sunday in Madrid that is expected to gather more than 1 million worshippers in a highlight of his week-long trip to Spain.<\/p>\n
King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia will join throngs of devotees in hot conditions at the emblematic Cibeles Square on day two of the first state visit by a pontiff to Spain since 2010.<\/p>\n
Authorities have prepared a huge logistical and security operation, including a stage, seven giant screens, 608 loudspeakers, 2,300 toilets, 10 water points and more than 8,000 fences.<\/p>\n
Leo will then lead a procession from Cibeles for hundreds of metres up to the famed Gran Via commercial thoroughfare and back.<\/p>\n
More than 30,000 mostly yellow and white carnations — matching the colours of the Vatican flag — will adorn the procession’s route in an elaborate floral carpet.<\/p>\n
Crowds of excited believers — including pilgrims from across Spain and beyond — will likely line the streets of central Madrid for a second day to glimpse Leo on his popemobile after the ceremony.<\/p>\n
Call to stop polarisation<\/p>\n
The solemn ceremonies come as traditional religious observance has declined for decades in Spain, historically a deeply Catholic country, in line with much of Europe.<\/p>\n
Later on Sunday, Leo will meet the leading lights of culture, sport and the economy at an arena, with the aim of fostering dialogue between faith and modern civil society.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, 500,000 mostly young attendees congregated with Leo outside football club Real Madrid’s Bernabeu stadium for a prayer vigil that stretched into the night.<\/p>\n
Leo kicked off his visit with pomp and ceremony during a reception at Madrid’s royal palace, where he urged society to put an end to “polarising narratives” and “sterile simplifications”.<\/p>\n
The pope also praised Spain, whose left-wing government has sparred with his native United States as well as Israel over wars in the Middle East, for its “active commitment to peace and solidarity among peoples”.<\/p>\n
Leo is due to visit Barcelona on Tuesday and Wednesday, where he will notably bless the Sagrada Familia basilica’s recently completed tower, which made it the world’s tallest church.<\/p>\n
His trip will 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PUBLISHED : 7 Jun 2026 at 08:45 Joyful believers will likely line the streets of central Madrid again…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17428,2312,17427,17432,17195,17431,17430,17,17429],"class_list":["post-36137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-cibeles-square","tag-king-felipe-vi","tag-madrid-papal-visit","tag-pope-madrid-mass","tag-pope-visit-spain","tag-religious-pilgrimage-spain","tag-sagrada-familia-blessing","tag-spain","tag-vatican-state-visit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}