Pope Mass | More Than A Million People In Central Madrid Plaza For Pope Leo XIV’s Mass

More than a million people poured into a central Madrid plaza on Sunday for Pope Leo XIV ’s main Mass and a procession highlighting one of the most iconic expressions of Spanish popular piety: flower carpets. They cheered and shouted “This is the youth of the pope!” as Leo arrived for the Mass, looping around the plaza and surrounding streets in his popemobile to a crowd packed several rows deep behind barricades. Sunday’s Mass falls on the Catholic Corpus Domini feast day, which often features processions of faithful through towns and cities led by a priest carrying the Eucharist. In Spain as in other predominantly Catholic countries, the processions often feature elaborate floral carpets arranged along the route. Leo, who arrived in Spain on Saturday at the start of his weeklong visit, has been keen to highlight the long tradition of Catholic devotion here to encourage especially young generations to find their faith. At a vigil service on Saturday night, an estimated 600,000 young Spaniards knelt for several minutes in silent prayer alongside Leo, suggesting that there is indeed interest among young people despite Spain’s heavily secularized society. #Pope #PopeLeoXIV #Madrid #CorpusChristi #CatholicFaith #Spain