“It’s not just about bringing out a monstrance, but about letting ourselves be brought out of selfishness, indifference, a comfortable and private faith, to respond to his invitation to conversion, to change our perspective, welcoming his presence that changes us and makes us builders of a new world”: thus Pope Leo at the Mass in Plaza de Cibeles in Madrid in front of 1.2 million faithful according to local authorities’ estimates. After the Mass, the Pope will lead the Corpus Christi procession. He himself explains the meaning of the rite: “The Christ who passes through the streets in the monstrance is the same one who identifies with the poor, the sick, the lonely, and the discarded.”
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At the Mass for Corpus Christi, celebrated in Madrid, the Pope leaves a “message for the Spain of today and tomorrow: may the religiosity that has animated this country for centuries not be a museum of the past to visit, but a school of faith from which to draw even today.” “A school – emphasized Leo – that teaches us to kneel before God and before our neighbor, because no one can kneel before the Lord and despise their brother; a school that teaches us the gratuitousness of love that becomes a gift, so that it circulates among us and breaks the chains of all selfishness; a school from which we learn that God is a real presence and we too are called to be present in the situations and challenges of society, not to flee, but to commit ourselves personally to the construction of the common good.” To allow the faithful present to receive the Eucharist, 2,300 chalices are being used at the Mass for Corpus Christi officiated by the Pope in Madrid.
“The solemn processions of this day have shaped the piety, art, music, architecture, and life of the Spanish people for centuries and, even today, express and manifest the spiritual sentiment of this country also through the beauty and elegance of floral carpets, street altars, the care of monstrances and displays, songs, and vestments,” added Pope Leo XIV in Plaza Cibeles, Madrid, for the celebration of Mass on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. “This is not an external manifestation, a folkloric survival, or a simple aesthetic ornament: here it is – he emphasized – about faith in the presence of the Risen Lord, who is alive and still passes among us, who becomes bread for our hunger for life and visits the corners of our hearts and our history, even the darkest ones.” At the end of the Mass, the long Corpus Christi procession began, which will conclude with the solemn Eucharistic blessing imparted by the Pope.
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Still a large crowd after the Mass for the most solemnly liturgical moment that Pope Leo wanted to include in his visit program to Spain: through the central streets of Madrid, Prevost is leading the Corpus Christi procession, holding high the monstrance under the golden canopy while the faithful throw flower petals as it passes and the bells ring festively. For reasons of order and security, it was necessary to reduce the number of people accompanying the Blessed Sacrament compared to the usual number for the Corpus Christi procession in Madrid. Arranged along the edges of the street, the procession includes, in addition to the necessary deacons and acolytes: children who received their First Communion this year, lay people, consecrated persons, priests, all cardinals, archbishops, and bishops. The procession route begins in Pla
za de Cibeles, continues along Calle Alcalá towards Gran Vía, turns at the Church of San José and returns to Cibeles along the other street
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