More than a million line Madrid streets to see Pope Leo

MADRID: Over a million people filled the ​streets of Madrid and one of its main squares on Sunday morning ‌to catch a glimpse of Pope Leo as he made his way to an open-air Mass in what was expected to be the largest event during his week-long visit to Spain.

People waved flags and ​shouted, “Long live the pope” as Leo was driven in the popemobile down ​Madrid’s main thoroughfare Paseo de la Castellana toward Cibeles Square, where ⁠he was due to preside over the Mass. Some tossed flower petals as ​he arrived in the square.

Some 1.2 million people were in the square and its ​surrounding streets, the Vatican and local organisers said.

“May Madrid remain a welcoming and inclusive city, where social life is inspired by genuine human values,” Leo wrote in a guest book as he ​was handed the key to the city by its mayor.

Leo began his trip on ​Saturday with meetings with migrants and the homeless and a vigil with about 600,000 young people ‌in ⁠Madrid. His June 6-12 visit also includes stops in Barcelona and the Canary Islands, where he will meet migrants who have risked their lives crossing there from West Africa.

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He said he hoped the visit, his first to an EU country outside Italy, ​would set an ​example to the ⁠world about respecting “every human being” and urged leaders to stop dividing electorates.

“I am delighted that he is praying for us migrants and ​for our safety,” said Andrea Margarita, a 72-year-old Peruvian who arrived ​in Spain ⁠six months ago, as she waited in the crowd in a wheelchair with her daughter.

After Mass, Leo was scheduled to hold a private meeting with fellow members of ⁠his Augustinian ​religious order in the afternoon before meeting figures ​from the world of entertainment, sport and culture at a concert venue in central Madrid.