MADRID: Over 1,000,000 folks crammed the streets of Madrid and one in every of its major squares on Sunday (Jun 7) morning to catch a glimpse of Pope Leo as he made his technique to an open-air Mass in what was anticipated to be the most important occasion throughout his week-long go to to Spain.
Folks waved flags and shouted, “Lengthy reside the pope” as Pope Leo was pushed within the popemobile down Madrid’s major thoroughfare Paseo de la Castellana towards Cibeles Sq., the place he was attributable to preside over the Mass. Some tossed flower petals as he arrived within the sq..
Some 1.2 million folks had been within the sq. and its surrounding streets, the Vatican and native organisers stated.
“Could Madrid stay a welcoming and inclusive metropolis, the place social life is impressed by real human values,” Pope Leo wrote in a visitor e book as he was handed the important thing to the town by its mayor.
Pope Leo started his journey on Saturday with meetings with migrants and the homeless and a vigil with about 600,000 younger folks in Madrid. His Jun 6 to Jun 12 go to additionally contains stops in Barcelona and the Canary Islands, the place he’ll meet migrants who’ve risked their lives crossing there from West Africa.
He stated he hoped the go to, his first to an EU nation exterior Italy, would set an instance to the world about respecting “each human being” and urged leaders to cease dividing electorates.
“I’m delighted that he’s praying for us migrants and for our security,” stated Andrea Margarita, a 72-year-old Peruvian who arrived in Spain six months in the past, as she waited within the crowd in a wheelchair together with her daughter.
After Mass, Pope Leo was scheduled to carry a non-public assembly with fellow members of his Augustinian spiritual order within the afternoon earlier than assembly figures from the world of leisure, sport and tradition at a live performance venue in central Madrid.
