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Huge crowds throng Madrid streets for Pope's open-air Mass

More than a million people lined the streets of Madrid on Sunday as Pope Leo XIV celebrated an open-air Mass in the Spanish capital, organisers said. He greeted the crowds as he made his way through the city in his popemobile on the second day of his official visit to the country, with King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia among the congregants for his morning service. Worshippers waved Spanish and Vatican flags and shouted "long live the Pope", while others threw petals upon his arrival at the Plaza de Cibeles. During his sermon, he urged those gathered to express their faith by helping others, saying God "identifies with the poor, the downtrodden, those who are alone and forsaken". He said they 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". Authorities mounted a major security operation for the Mass and subsequent procession through central Madrid. The streets were decorated with banners bearing the Pope's face and thousands of white and yellow carnations to match the Vatican flag's colours. Large crowds had similarly gathered in the city as he began his week-long trip on Saturday, where he praised the Spanish government's opposition to global conflicts and its support for migrants during a reception at the royal palace. "I have come to meet Jesus Christ through the words of the Pope," 30-year-old Marta Perez told the AFP news agency on Sunday. "He's come to do good, with all his love." Ana Milagros, 64, said the Pope was trying to "help all of us". "There is a lot of polarisation and differences in politics, in social matters, in the economy," she said. Late on Saturday, the pontiff was joined by some 500,000 congregants - most of whom were young people - for a prayer vigil near Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu stadium which stretched into the night. "In the face of the emptiness of indifference and compliance, before the violence of war and lies, you must be the sparks of a new humanity," he told those gathered. His remarks echoed those he delivered during his royal reception, in which he praised Spain's commitment to peace and its "faithful adherence to international law". The country's socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has clashed with US President Donald Trump over the US and Israel's war against Iran, and with Israel over the war in Gaza. The Chicago-born pope has also drawn criticism from the president over his anti-war views. His trip to Spain - the first by a pope in some 15 years - will also feature an unprecedented address before the Spanish parliament and a meeting with victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. Pope Leo is also due to visit the Canary Islands with Prime Minister Sánchez later in the week, where they will honour thousands of migrants who have died trying to reach Europe.