The Pope attacks hypocrisy: "No one can kneel before the Lord and despise their brother"

MadridAfter setting tasks for politicians in a forceful intervention at the Royal Palace of Madrid, this Sunday the Pope has set tasks for Catholics. In what has been his first Corpus Christi mass in the State – the first of the trip that began yesterday, Saturday, but also the first he has celebrated since he was elected pontiff – Leo XIV has sent very specific instructions for believers to apply: to practice a daily faith and to commit "personally" to the construction of the common good. But above all, he has appealed to set aside hypocrisy: "[Religiosity] is a school that teaches us to kneel before God and our neighbor, because no one can kneel before the Lord and despise their brother," said the Pope during the homily of the multitudinous mass celebrated this Sunday morning in Madrid's Cibeles Square. Leo XIV also defended a religiosity that is not "a museum of the past to visit".

Hours before the celebration, many citizens who wanted to secure a spot to see, or at least hear, the Pope were already approaching the area. In fact, a large security detail prohibited access to the square, but also to the surrounding areas, from 9 a.m. – the mass began at 10:30 a.m. –. In fact, a crowd of people could not pass despite having tickets, which caused moments of indignation among the faithful. Many of them welcomed the pontiff's arrival at the square with the popemobile with shouts of "Long live the Pope" or "This is the Pope's youth".

In front of the Cibeles fountain, the altar had been erected, while on the street there were reserved areas for authorities, with the Royal Family at the forefront, but also a multitude of religious figures. A small area with chairs was also reserved for companies that had sponsored the trip by contributing large sums of money, from the construction company ACS, to El Corte Inglés or Mapfre. Representing the Spanish government, the Minister of Education, Milagros Tolón (PSOE), was present. Also present from the PP were Alberto Núñez Feijóo, Isabel Díaz Ayuso or José Luis Martínez Almeida; and from Vox, their spokesperson in Congress, Pepa Millán.

Under a blazing sun and in front of more than 1.2 million people, according to the organization (1.1 million according to the Spanish government delegation in Madrid), Leo XIV has appealed for a religiosity committed to the most needy – he cited Saint John of the Cross, "imprisoned in Toledo for wanting to reform the Carmelite Order by returning it to austerity" – but also open and shared: "May it not close us in private devotion, but send us to water our brothers, our families, our towns, those who suffer or have lost hope," he said during the homily. The Church has long lived with concern about the rise of new spiritualities outside of institutional ecclesiastical circles that focus solely on emotional experience. The Spanish Episcopal Conference, for example, has pointed out the case of Christian groups like Hakuna, to whom, for instance, the government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso (PP) has embraced.

After the celebration, Leo XIV participated with the popemobile in the Corpus procession with a route of 3 kilometers through the center of the Spanish capital, which was filled with multicolored flower carpets. Specifically, 130,000 yellow and white carnations were placed by 160 volunteers.

Call for secularism

Within the framework of the Pope's trip to the State, which includes his visit to Catalonia with a mass at the Sagrada Família, some have also denounced the involvement of public institutions, and therefore public resources, in the visit, taking into account that Spain is a non-confessional country. "We are concerned that this religious visit is being treated by institutions as a State visit, with the deployment of public resources that this entails. This confusion weakens institutional neutrality and perpetuates privileged treatment that contradicts the constitutionally recognized principle of non-confessionality," have denounced from the campaign Jo no t'espero through a statement. The campaign includes entities such as the Ferrer i Guàrdia Foundation.