Pope Leo XIV put the final touch on his stay in Madrid this Monday with a massive gathering at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, an event that brought together tens of thousands of faithful from the dioceses of Madrid, Alcalá de Henares, and Getafe, and which became one of the most striking images of the entire apostolic visit.
The Archdiocese of Madrid achieved a remarkable turnout and flawless organization in a carefully designed event, though marked by a more celebratory and testimonial tone than the doctrinal depth that had characterized other addresses delivered by the Pontiff during his stay in Spain.
The evening, conceived under the pastoral guidelines promoted by Cardinal José Cobo, combined music, personal testimonies, stage performances, and constant references to ecclesial communion, mutual listening, and the participation of all the baptized.
The scenography, modern and visually effective, offered a powerful image of the Church gathered around the Pope, though with an aesthetic language closer to the format of a large pastoral event than to a celebration of strong spiritual or liturgical density.
A festive event to close the Madrid stage
Before Pope Leo XIV’s address, the stage hosted testimonies of conversion, vocation, and ecclesial commitment, along with musical performances and various interventions prepared by the organizers.
The format fully aligned with the style the Archdiocese has been promoting in recent years: a participatory proposal centered on personal experiences and community building.
When he took the floor, the Pope quickly connected with the audience through a reference to the stadium hosting the gathering:
“I suppose that for a soccer player, scoring a goal in this stadium is something that changes their life a bit, but Don José, today the Church of Madrid has scored a goal for the ages.”
The remark drew an immediate ovation from the attendees and set the warm tone of an address that avoided complex doctrinal issues to focus on ideas easily recognizable to the gathered public.
Communion, listening, and participation
The core of the speech revolved around concepts already present in other events of the visit: unity in diversity, reciprocal listening, communal discernment, and the need to avoid isolation among different ecclesial groups.
Pope Leo XIV insisted that the faithful should not shut themselves off in environments where everyone thinks alike and encouraged seeking new forms of Christian presence in large cities.
Much of his words were devoted to presenting ecclesial life as a shared experience built through dialogue and participation.
References to synodality appeared throughout the address, especially when speaking about parish and diocesan councils, communal discernment, and the need to listen together to what the Spirit is saying to the Church.
A simpler speech than those delivered before institutions
Unlike his addresses before the Congress of Deputies or the Spanish Episcopal Conference, where Pope Leo XIV addressed issues such as the defense of life, religious freedom, the family, education, or abuse, his message at the Bernabéu had a more pastoral profile and was less developed from a doctrinal standpoint.
The Pope chose to emphasize welcome, hope, and community building, in keeping with the nature of the event and the script designed for the grand farewell celebration of the Church in Madrid.
One of the most applauded moments came when he evoked the words of Saint Teresa of Jesus:
“Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you!”
“May the Word of God be found in your life”
The phrase that best summed up the evening came at the end of the address. After recalling some of the testimonies heard during the gathering, Pope Leo XIV encouraged the faithful to live a visible and welcoming faith.
“Be, for all, like an open Bible: may the Word of God be found in your faces and in your life.”
With these words and the final blessing, the Pope’s last major event in Madrid concluded.
The Bernabéu left a powerful image of convocation and a demonstration of organizational capacity on the part of the Archdiocese, in an evening of marked synodal, testimonial, and festive character that brought the Madrid stage of the apostolic journey to a close before Pope Leo XIV set off for Barcelona.
Before leaving the capital, the Pope will hold one final event on Tuesday morning at IFEMA Madrid, where he will meet with the volunteers who collaborated in organizing the visit.
After touring the venue and listening to several testimonies, Pope Leo XIV will deliver words of thanks to those who participated in the various events held during these days.
After the meeting, the Pontiff will travel to Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport to head to Barcelona, where the second stage of his apostolic journey through Spain will begin.
Full Address of Pope Leo XIV at the Santiago Bernabéu:
Dear brothers and sisters, good afternoon!
I suppose that for a soccer player, scoring a goal in this stadium is something that changes their life a bit, but Don José, today the Church of Madrid has scored a goal for the ages.
This evening is a great hymn of faith, and I am pleased to join my voice with yours to praise God and strengthen the bonds of such a beautiful ecclesial family that is learning the art of polyphony—that is, unity in diversity.
I thank your Archbishop, Cardinal José Cobo Cano, for introducing the parable of song, which shows how numbers, data, and facts are not enough to generate community: our heart needs to sing—that is, to interpret events and situations by celebrating with others the meaning they radiate. For the Church, this happens in a singular way in the liturgy, the great Memorial of the history that has saved us.
Singing is a need that permeates coexistence and challenges culture, urging it to remain open and in constant evolution. You are the diocesan Church in the midst of a people that loves music, dance, and being together, but that also knows conflict, resignation, and at times despair—situations in which the Gospel can open a path to hope.
You bear witness to the Gospel in the capital of a great European country, home to institutions and organizations where important decisions are made for the present and the future, but also a destination for millions of visitors and brothers and sisters seeking new opportunities.
Your joy will be contagious if, instead of being a passing emotion, it becomes a stable way of being, a deep sentiment that renews people, groups, and the diocesan community. It is no coincidence that the apostles, in their writings, often invite the churches to joy, recommending it almost as a commandment.
It is the Evangelii Gaudium, a choral response to the work of God in Jesus Christ: his life, death, and resurrection have forever changed the perception of history for those who have encountered and followed him, even if in different ways and along different paths. Today too, the love of Christ urges us (cf. 2 Cor 5:14)—the verb Saint Paul uses also means “captivates us,” “holds us together,” “possesses us”—and thus calls us to the responsibility of action.
Yes, dear brothers and sisters, as some of you have testified this afternoon, Baptism truly changes life. Our sensibilities, backgrounds, and priorities meet in Christ and receive their lifeblood from him, like the branches of the vine. Concretely, this means that much of what was already in us is transformed, because it is oriented toward service, ceases to be a private gift, and serves the common good. There is no need to fear that it will never produce uniformity.
In this regard, the New Testament bears witness, in the variety of its voices, to communion in diversity—that is, to the understanding that was lost in Babel, where, according to the biblical account, all were compelled into a totalitarian and merely human project and ended up not understanding their neighbor.
In the encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, I proposed, as an alternative to homogenization and confusion, the figure of Nehemiah, who involves the entire community in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. “Today, rebuilding means recognizing that, in the plurality of voices and visions that sometimes recalls the dispersion of tongues, there nevertheless exists a luminous possibility: that of building together, transforming diversity into a resource and making listening and dialogue the common ground on which to grow justice and fraternity. And in this shared work, Christians find their own way of building: orienting action toward God, so that, under his light, pluralism does not disperse into disorder, but, in the practice of synodality, becomes the space in which humanity recovers its solid foundations and its ultimate end” (Magnifica Humanitas, 10).
There is, therefore, a special relationship between the Church and the city, which becomes even more important in the change of epoch we are living through: a relationship that, naturally, takes shape among people of flesh and blood, in labor and neighborhood relations, but also in the various communities, associations, and neighborhood entities.
The specificity of the Christian mission within large urban realities is becoming increasingly evident, where “an unprecedented culture throbs and is elaborated” (Evangelii Gaudium, 73). Clarity on this point has matured greatly along the synodal path, which has allowed us to know and listen to one another more deeply in the contexts in which the diocesan community lives and takes shape. The question that becomes more important is: does what we are and do as Christians reach “where new narratives and paradigms are being shaped,” that is, “the deepest core of the soul of cities” (ibid., 74). It is true that giving an answer may be difficult, but it is possible if we seek the truth together.
That is why it is so important not to scatter or shut ourselves each in the group or environment where we already feel safe, among people who always sing the same melody. To reach the heart of the city, we must cultivate the awareness that truth is symphonic and always surpasses us, cultivate the desire to encounter the Risen One, who always goes ahead of us, precedes us, and perhaps is already present where we have not yet sought him.
That is why seeking him and following him is the condition for pointing him out: otherwise, there is no evangelization, and today we can understand this better than in the past. In large cities, more than elsewhere, we sometimes feel we no longer have the maps to move with certainty. Then we must relearn the spiritual art of being cordial, without which even the proclamation of the Gospel risks becoming an impersonal repetition and, losing effectiveness, leaves room for frustration and distrust.
Dear brothers, Madrid is a great city where different traditions and “souls” coexist. God knows the hearts of its inhabitants one by one. He knows them as only he can, that is, in love and therefore in freedom. He is infinite mercy and wants all to be saved. He desires this to the point of becoming flesh and taking upon himself all the sin, evil, and negativity of the world. Behold Jesus Christ! Behold the Good News, the grace we have received and are called to share with all! For all, without exception, are made for life and for life in fullness.
The presence of the Church in a great city is a parable of this mystery of salvation. The Book of Jonah comes to mind, a jewel of the Bible that I invite you to read or reread, personally and in community. It is no coincidence that it was precisely in the cities that the apostles planted the nascent Church, encountering not only rejection but also welcome where, more naturally, people face diversity and change.
Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you! Together, as a diocesan Church, you can offer the evangelical witness that unleashes the best forces of a humanity bombarded with images and words, yet hungry for justice and thirsty for truth. Have confidence in the increasingly evident fact that one can return to the faith or come to know it for the first time in adulthood. Be ready to welcome new beginnings not as an exception, but as the rule of mission. The investment in parish and diocesan councils has no lesser goal than this: to modify each person’s sensibility through a deeper listening to what the Spirit is saying to the Church.
It would be a pity to reduce them to mere bureaucratic procedures. They are spaces of mutual listening for the exercise of discernment, without which not only does each go their own way, but we risk not understanding where the Lord wants us, what he expects of us, to what conversions he calls us. When we attend to these spaces, then worship becomes life and bonds of fraternity and projects of solidarity arise among people.
I invite priests to recognize the practice of communal discernment as one of the greatest opportunities that synodality offers to their ministry. Dear brothers, without departing from what is essential, regularly pausing with your people to interpret the life of the neighborhoods, cultural changes, social tensions, and ecclesial practices in the light of the Gospel will enrich and console your ministry.
It will also help each person and each community to emerge from isolation and experience the joy of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, when we reduce ecclesial life to a routine in which each remains enclosed in their habits and role, what we lack is the Spirit. He stirs up vocations and unites them, sometimes provoking agitation, discussion, the search for new balances. Do not be frightened by all this—enjoy it.
The stories we have heard tonight tell us, or rather “sing” to us, how much life there is in this Church. One has testified: “I can say without hesitation that I deeply love the Church, the family of God, where we all have a place.” Another said: “I felt great joy and responsibility in becoming a more active member of the community and sharing my gifts with the rest of the members of the Church.”
And still others have recounted: “For us, serving in these programs is not only a way of helping, but also a way of giving back all the affection and support we have received.” Behold the Church, dear brothers and sisters! Behold the music of the Gospel, with its contagious rhythm.
When it reaches the heart, it makes one say they have felt welcomed with open arms, like the family that came from Peru to Madrid. Many, like her and her family, at first feel fear to approach, but have heard of prejudices and disappointments. Kindness, even if from a few, can overcome the fear of many.
Be, for all, like an open Bible: may the Word of God be found in your faces and in your life. Love, indeed, is the language that makes everyone feel at home. Thank you very much.