Pope Leo XIV’s first day in Spain served as an initial contact with Madrid, a devoted city that had been decorated and preparing for the visit for days. After landing at 10:12 AM at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport, he traveled to the Royal Palace in a closed car, and despite this, he could already feel the warm welcome from the people of Madrid, who stood along the margins of the A-2 highway that leads into Madrid to greet him.

Politicians were the first to approach the Pope due to his status as head of state, but when Robert Prevost freed himself from obligations and protocol, escorted at all times by the Archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal José Cobo, he opted for the poor and the young as the first recipients of a message he assures is for everyone. For believers, especially, but also for society in general, he pointed out early on the papal flight.

The Pope has not come to Spain to play the violin. It will not be a trip with a vanilla ice cream flavor. The first day confirms this. Leo XIV is not a man with his foot on the brake, chosen by the conclave to calm the President of the United States, to temper the great…

Leo XIV makes a strong impression and wastes no time. As soon as he set foot on Spanish soil, he launched a vigorous and forceful message, addressed to both society and the political class, against tension, which he referred to as “dark nights”. The Pontiff did not mince words in his first speech: “I come to encourage and inspire a deeper reconciliation and cooperation among the different forces of this nation,” he told those present. “Your own history suggests that it is not the culture of confrontation, but that of encounter, which generates stability and prosperity,” he admonished the politicians.