1m gather in Madrid for Pope’s Mass and procession along flower-carpeted route

More than one million people have poured into a central Madrid plaza for Pope Leo’s main Mass and a procession highlighting one of the most iconic expressions of Spanish popular piety: flower carpets.

They cheered and shouted “This is the youth of the Pope” as Leo arrived for the Mass on Sunday morning, looping around the plaza and surrounding streets in his popemobile to a crowd packed several rows deep behind barricades.

The event falls on the Catholic Corpus Domini feast day, which often features processions of faithful through towns and cities led by a priest carrying the Eucharist.

In Spain, as in other predominantly Catholic countries, the processions often feature elaborate floral carpets arranged along the route.

The tradition of laying flower carpets – and destroying them when the procession tramples them – dates back two centuries and is popular also in Latin America, where elaborate sand designs are also made. The painstaking displays are considered an offering to the Eucharist.

According to Spanish organisers, the 16 flower carpets decorating the half-mile procession route on Sunday were prepared by a Spanish florists association from Galicia.

Florists used more than 30,000 flowers, most the yellow and white colours of the Holy See flag, for the carpets that feature decorations such as the Holy See keys.

Later on Sunday, Leo is to meet privately with members of his Augustinian religious order and address cultural leaders.

The Pope, who arrived in Spain on Saturday at the start of his week-long visit, has been keen to highlight the long tradition of Catholic devotion to encourage especially young generations to find their faith.

At a vigil service on Saturday night, an estimated 600,000 young Spaniards knelt for several minutes in silent prayer alongside Leo.

“Let me take the opportunity to tell all of you: Don’t ever be afraid of thinking about a vocation to the priesthood or religious life, or other services in the church,” Leo told the crowd.

Irati Valda and Javier Hormazal, a young couple, held up a cardboard sign announcing they are going to get married on June 13 and were ushered up close to receive Leo’s blessing during the vigil.

“To see so many young people together, it’s incredible, Ms Valda said. “Half a million people in silence, this is something you will only live once.”