MORE THAN ONE million people have poured into a central Madrid plaza for Pope Leo XIV’s main Mass and a procession highlighting one of the most iconic expressions of Spanish popular piety: flower carpets.

They cheered and shouted “This is the youth of the Pope” as Leo arrived for the Mass this morning, looping around the plaza and surrounding streets in his popemobile to a crowd packed several rows deep behind barricades.

Enormous crowds, as hundreds of thousands of people fill the Plaza de Cibeles in Madrid to assist the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass celebrated by His Holiness Pope Leo XIV pic.twitter.com/FDPKAQHyJt

— Catholic Sat (@CatholicSat) June 7, 2026

The event falls on the Catholic Corpus Domini feast day, which often features processions of faithful through towns and cities led by a priest carrying the Eucharist.

In Spain, as in other predominantly Catholic countries, the processions often feature elaborate floral carpets arranged along the route.

The tradition of laying flower carpets – and destroying them when the procession tramples them – dates back two centuries and is popular also in Latin America, where elaborate sand designs are also made.

The painstaking displays are considered an offering to the Eucharist.

According to Spanish organisers, the 16 flower carpets decorating the half-mile procession route on Sunday were prepared by a Spanish florists association from Galicia.

Florists used more than 30,000 flowers, most the yellow and white colours of the Holy See flag, for the carpets that feature decorations such as the Holy See keys.

🇪🇸 MADRID

The Spanish are going CRAZY for Pope Leo XIV pic.twitter.com/j81JxarHCO

— Catholic Arena (@CatholicArena) June 7, 2026

Later today, Leo is to meet privately with members of his Augustinian religious order and address cultural leaders.

The Pope, who arrived in Spain on Saturday at the start of his week-long visit, has been keen to highlight the long tradition of Catholic devotion to encourage especially young generations to find their faith.

At a vigil service on Saturday night, an estimated 600,000 young Spaniards knelt for several minutes in silent prayer alongside Leo.

“Let me take the opportunity to tell all of you: Don’t ever be afraid of thinking about a vocation to the priesthood or religious life, or other services in the church,” Leo told the crowd.

Irati Valda and Javier Hormazal, a young couple, held up a cardboard sign announcing they are going to get married on 13 June and were ushered up close to receive Leo’s blessing during the vigil.

“To see so many young people together, it’s incredible,” Valda said. “Half a million people in silence, this is something you will only live once.”

Leo had earlier acknowledged that he faced competition among young people with another VIP in Madrid this weekend, with Puerto Rican sensation Bad Bunny performing shows in the capital.

“If they are confronted with the question ‘Do you want to go see Bad Bunny or do you want to go to see the pope?’ I think many will see Bad Bunny,” Leo said on Saturday.

“But I think there will also be a few here to see the pope. And that says something, you know.”

Meanwhile, Leo is to meet with abuse victims and migrants during his seven-day visit to Spain and the Canary Islands. 

As the pontiff began the papal visit on Saturday, he told reporters that sexual abuse within the Catholic Church “is still an open wound”.

Spain’s King Felipe VI commended Leo for his “clarity and firmness” in dealing with sexual abuse cases within the Church during a meeting with the pontiff on Saturday.

Later next week, on Thursday, Leo will also visit the Canary Islands and meet with migrants and the organisations helping them.

The Canaries – Spanish islands off the coast of West Africa – have become the main entry point for irregular migrants into Spain after long and dangerous trips from Africa.

The UN’s International Organisation for Migration estimates 1,172 migrants died or went missing along the route in 2025 – a figure only slightly lower than the 1,215 people in 2024.

The late Pope Francis had wanted to visit migrants in the Canary Islands, but illness prevented this journey.

Leo will now make this journey instead to honour thousands of migrants who have died trying to reach Europe.

-With additional reporting from Diarmuid Pepper