Pope Leo in Spain: over 1 million people flood Madrid streets for mass

More than one million people filled the streets of Madrid on Sunday for a mass by Pope Leo at which he called for a renewal of the Catholic faith in Spain.

The mass came on day two of Leo’s seven-day visit to Spain, a traditional Catholic bastion where religious observance has been declining sharply in recent years as in much of western Europe.

King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia joined throngs of devotees waving Spanish and Vatican flags in Cibeles Square for a service filled with religious symbolism.

In his homily, Leo said Spaniards should not look at religion as “a museum of the past to be visited, but a school of faith from which to draw even today”.

Around 56 per cent of Spaniards identify as Catholic compared to 90 per cent in the 1970s, according to a survey last month by the Centre for Sociological Research, an autonomous government body.

A huge logistical and security operation was in place for the event, after which the pope led a traditional procession along a route lined with white and yellow carnations – the Vatican flag colours.