Top photo caption: Pope Leo XIV takes part in the Corpus Christi procession at the Plaza de Cibeles in Madrid June 7. CNS photo/Lola Gomez
By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service
MADRID CNS – At the start of his fourth trip abroad, Pope Leo XIV humbly predicted that young Spaniards would more likely attend shows scheduled on the same days as his visit starring a fellow-American, Bad Bunny, who has the most audio streams in the world.
Instead, the Pope was the bigger draw in Madrid June 6-8, packing massive stadiums, arenas and the wide squares and boulevards of this capital city with total attendees nearing 2 million people.
The U.S.-born Augustinian Pope – a longtime missionary in Peru – chose to go to the land that had once sent waves of missionaries to the Americas, landing first in its capital: an urban hotspot for tourism, immigration and political wrangling.
He assured the people of this increasingly secular nation that they already possess the resources needed to respond to its serious ongoing political, economic and social challenges – as long as they do it together, united in their God-given diversity.
“The Creator has woven human beings with threads of love,” he told representatives of the world of culture, art, workers and athletes at Movistar Arena June 7. And now, each person must be a thread they weave into the larger fabric of their family, community and world.
“The desire for goodness, beauty and truth is rooted in the very DNA of humanity,” he said. When each person reflects and recognizes that restless quest inside their heart, and when society offers the spaces for people to cultivate that desire and create together, then they build the common good, becoming, as Pope Francis had said, a kind of “artisan” of peace.
Pope Leo told journalists traveling with him on the papal plane June 6 that the Catholic Church has a message for everyone, not just for the faithful. This time, however, as the early missionaries sailed to the Americas, today’s Catholics have to set out for the existential “new world” of their own streets.
Expanding on that theme before more than 80,000 Catholics in the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, the Pope warned against retreating into comfortable circles of like-minded people.
“Seek the truth together,” he said June 8, and include those who don’t “always sing the same tune.”
Leading the city’s colorful Corpus Christi procession across the Plaza de Cibeles, surrounded by 1.2 million people, Pope Leo showed that Christ, present in the Eucharist, “is not confined to the Church, but comes out to meet us” and walk with his people.
However, “it is not merely a matter of bringing out the monstrance,” he said in his homily at the outdoor Mass June 7, “but of allowing ourselves to be brought out of our selfishness and indifference, of a comfortable, private faith, so as to respond to his invitation to conversion, to change our perspective, and to welcome his presence which transforms us and makes us builders of a new world.”
While “no one can kneel before the Lord and despise their brother,” Pope Leo also warned against practicing charity as a kind of philanthropy devoid of spiritual nourishment.
“We too are called to be present in the realities and challenges of society, not shying away, but personally committing ourselves to the building of the common good.”
The Pope was not shy when speaking to Spain’s parliament June 8, saying, “It falls to me today to speak a calm and firm word to those who bear the grave responsibility of legally ordering social coexistence.”
As euthanasia and medically assisted suicide are legal in Spain and its government is now considering an amendment to constitutionally protect the right to abortion, Pope Leo said, “The defense of human life is neither a partisan issue nor a confessional interest: it is a goal of civilization.”
“Every human life must be recognized and safeguarded from conception to its natural end, in every circumstance of its existence. When this certainty is obscured, the most vulnerable are the first victims, and the law loses its deepest meaning: to serve and protect every person,” including the ill, migrants and those utterly dependent on receiving care from others.
His 30-minute address to lawmakers was met with a 6-minute standing ovation at the end, something that jubilant crowds repeated at other venues with shouts of “Long live the Pope!”
While the lengthy accolades made him visibly bashful, he soaked in the many moments during the trip that were dedicated to song, celebration, dance, blessing and embracing those who reached out to him.
“The strength of the Church does not come from the greatness of her resources, but from the holiness of her children, from the communion of her pastors, and from the humble and persevering fidelity of those who allow themselves to be guided by the Spirit,” he told the nation’s bishops June 8.
Along their journey as bishops, Pope Leo said, they will “meet people who are going through dark times,” including survivors of sexual abuse, and they will “call on us to be their Good Samaritans.”
“The ecclesial community is called to respond with listening, truth, justice, reparation and an ever more determined commitment to prevention and a culture of care,” he said, so they can find “real paths to healing.”
Pope Leo met privately for nearly an hour at the apostolic nunciature with six men and women who experienced abuse by clergy, listening to their experiences and suggestions for how the Church could respond to accusations more effectively.
A common motif in many of Pope Leo’s speeches was “darkness” and desolation. “Trials and failures offer an opportunity for reevaluation” and redemption, he told King Felipe VI of Spain and representatives of civil society and diplomats June 6.
Crisis can become a grace, as it did for Spain’s St. Ignatius of Loyola when he gave credence to the disparate feelings in his heart and “understood that the good to which he was drawn was not illusory.”
In fact, he told young people at a prayer vigil that drew half a million people to Plaza de Lima that it was “precisely my encounter with the people’s hardships and also their joy” when serving in Peru that “helped me grow in my own journey following Jesus.”
The most important journey of all, he said, is seeking the “fire of God’s love in our hearts! For there is the presence of Jesus, and the close presence of Jesus is felt even in the moments of our falls, because Jesus does not abandon us.”
Their mission, he told the young people, was simply to be human: “men and women of flesh and blood! Not mere appearances, but trustworthy faces” who “seek justice because they hunger for it.”
“You can change history,” he said, when it is done with love.
Wrapping up the first leg of his trip in Real Madrid’s soccer stadium June 8 before heading to Barcelona June 9, then the Canary Islands June 11, the Pope continued, saying that love and kindness are key to living like Christ.
“Let nothing trouble you; let nothing frighten you!” he said. “We must relearn the spiritual art of kindness, without which proclaiming the Gospel risks becoming impersonal and ineffective repetition, leaving room for frustration and mistrust.”
“Kindness, even if it comes from just a few, can overcome the fear of many. Be, for everyone, like an open Bible: may the word of God be found in your faces and in your lives. Love, indeed, is the language that makes everyone feel at home.”
Catholic journalism is needed now more than ever. Please consider supporting this work by signing up for a SUBSCRIPTION (click HERE) or making a DONATION to The Monitor (click HERE). Thank you for your contribution.