Madrid to keep 20-metre cross from Pope Leo XIV's visit as a permanent gift to the city
Mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida announced the cross from the Plaza de Lima vigil will remain in the capital, calling it a 'very special gift' from the Diocese of Madrid.
The announcement at Cibeles
Madrid mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida confirmed on Monday that the roughly 20-metre cross installed in Plaza de Lima for Pope Leo XIV's visit will stay in the city. Speaking at a gratitude reception in the Palacio de Cibeles for organisations that helped host the papal trip, Almeida described the structure as a 'very special gift' from the Diocese of Madrid.
La cruz se queda.
The cross formed part of the stage set for the youth vigil on the first evening of the Pope's stay, which drew around 500,000 people. Almeida said he experienced his most personal moment of the visit before it: kneeling on the Castellana in near silence, broken only by helicopters.
Location still under study
The mayor's preferred option is to leave the cross in Plaza de Lima itself. 'It makes every sense that it stays in the Plaza de Lima,' he said. Technical assessments are ongoing, and if the site proves unworkable, the city will find another location. In either case, Almeida said it would serve as 'a permanent testimony to unforgettable days we spent in this city and to the Christian roots of Madrid and Madrilenian society.'
A petition from HazteOir
The announcement follows a campaign by the organisation HazteOir, which gathered around 46,000 signatures urging the council to retain the cross. The group's petition called it 'a powerful symbol of our faith and a tribute to our spiritual identity,' arguing it aligned with Madrid's historical and cultural identity as Spain's capital.
What impressed the Vatican delegation most was the reaction of the city. Madrid gave them an infinite embrace.
Organisational feats recalled
Yago de la Cierva, one of the visit's organisers, shared behind-the-scenes details at the reception. He revealed there were 'quite strong discussions about the use of the popemobile' because organisers wanted the Pope to be more visible. With 48 hours to go, they persuaded the Holy See and the police to add a boulevard route between the Royal Palace and Plaza de Colón. Without time for barriers, police used plastic tape and security personnel lined the path. Madrid's metro also opened an hour early to get volunteers to their posts.
Working together we are capable of reaching further.
Almeida praised the city's ability to host back-to-back mass events, noting the astonishment of visiting professionals at the International Press Centre. Municipal police covered 56,000 kilometres in four days, and over 1,000 Samur-Protección Civil personnel were deployed with virtually no incidents. The mayor also announced that the family choir that performed at the Santiago Bernabéu will join the city's Christmas cultural programme, and that memorials to Benedict XVI and John Paul II, previous papal visitors, are being planned.
- Pope Leo XIV holds youth vigil at Plaza de Lima with around 500,000 attendees. The 20-metre cross forms centrepiece of the stage.
- Cross dismantled as part of scheduled removal of the vigil stage, prompting HazteOir to launch a petition for its permanent retention.
- Mayor Almeida signals the council wants to materialise a memory of the visit in Madrid's streets.
- Almeida announces the cross will stay permanently at a gratitude reception in the Palacio de Cibeles. Preferred location is Plaza de Lima, pending technical review.
