More Than a Million Greet Pope Leo XIV in Madrid

More than a million people lined the streets of Madrid to welcome Pope Leo XIV on Sunday, Deutsche Welle reported, as the pontiff began a five-day trip across Spain. The visit centers on meetings with vulnerable groups, including migrants and homeless people, and on a message of what the Pope called genuine human values.

The day before, the Pope visited a welfare center run by the Caritas charity in a deprived area of Madrid, where he met homeless people and spoke against prejudice, Africanews reported. The focus on poverty and migration has defined the early themes of his pontificate.

The large turnout in a country with a complicated relationship to the Church suggests the new Pope retains broad public appeal. His emphasis on migrants comes at a moment when migration remains a divisive issue across Europe, giving the visit a political dimension beyond the religious one.

For a global readership, the visit is a reminder that the Catholic Church remains one of the few institutions able to gather crowds of this size across borders, and that its messaging on poverty and migration is influential in public debate.