More than 1 million people flood Madrid streets to see Pope Leo XIV and flower-carpeted procession | Ap

MADRID (AP) — Pope Leo XIV honored Spain’s centuries-old tradition of religious devotion on Sunday as a “school of faith” for today, as he presided over a Mass before more than a million people that highlighted one of the most iconic expressions of Spanish popular piety: a procession over flower-petal carpets.

The crowd cheered and shouted “This is the youth of the pope!” as Leo arrived for the Mass at a central Madrid plaza. He looped around the plaza and surrounding streets in his popemobile before a crowd packed several rows deep with people eager to witness the first papal trip to Spain since 2011, when Pope Benedict XVI visited for World Youth Day.

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