Pope Leo XIV concludes Madrid visit with royal meeting and packed Bernabéu event
Pope Leo XIV ended his apostolic visit to Madrid with a private audience with Queen Sofía and her family, before a joyous diocesan gathering at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium that drew up to 80,000 faithful and included a mix of music, personal testimonies and liturgical pageantry.
Private audience with the royal family
Queen Sofía, wearing white as permitted by the “privilegio blanco,” arrived at the Apostolic Nunciature on Monday afternoon accompanied by her daughters, Infantas Elena and Cristina, and three of her grandchildren: Victoria Federica de Marichalar, Pablo Urdangarin and Miguel Urdangarin. The meeting was not on the Pope’s official agenda. “Pleased to meet you,” the Queen Mother told the Pontiff, before introducing her family. Infanta Cristina praised the Pope’s address earlier that day to the Spanish Congress as “so necessary, so beautiful,” while Victoria Federica added a brief but emphatic “it was needed.” The group chatted for several minutes in a relaxed atmosphere and exchanged gifts; the Spanish royals received small boxes believed to contain blessed rosaries. Queen Sofía noted that two of Cristina’s children, Juan and Irene, were absent, though she did not mention Froilán, who lives in Abu Dhabi.
A second meeting with Isabel Díaz Ayuso
Shortly before the royal audience, Pope Leo XIV held another private encounter at the Nunciature with the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso. It was her second private meeting with the Pontiff in a week, a rare gesture for a regional leader. The 20‑minute meeting mirrored the time the Pope gave Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, underlining the institutional weight the Vatican placed on Madrid during this trip. The Pope presented Ayuso with the official commemorative medal of the visit, bearing the papal coat of arms and the trip’s motto “Alzad la mirada” (“Lift up your gaze”). Later, as the papal motorcade passed through Puerta del Sol, the Pope greeted Ayuso again from his vehicle near the Real Casa de Correos, where the regional government had set up a media hub for the more than 2,200 accredited journalists covering the visit.
Bernabéu sends off the Pope
In the evening, the Pope travelled the eight kilometres from the Cathedral of Santa María de la Almudena to the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, arriving at 19:25 to a thunderous “Contigo León, un solo corazón” (“With you, Leo, one heart”) from the crowd. Organisers said attendance reached 80,000, though some reports placed the figure at 70,000. The event was hosted by journalists Christian Gálvez and Patricia Pardo and blended religious ritual with a popular festival atmosphere. The Pope crossed the pitch in an electric golf cart, joking that while Prefect Robert Prevost supports Real Madrid, he is “for all teams.”
In the plurality of voices and visions, there exists a luminous possibility: that of building together, transforming diversity into a resource and making listening and dialogue the common ground on which justice and fraternity can grow.
Music and personal stories
The evening opened with David Bustamante, Diana Navarro and Daniel Diges performing the visit’s official hymn “Alzad la mirada.” Bustamante later closed the event with Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” backed by the Orquesta Sinfónica Cruz Diez and a troupe of dancers. Other artists included Íñigo Quintero and the band Hakuna. Between musical sets, the Pope listened to testimonies from a Peruvian couple assisted by Caritas, a recently baptised 33‑year‑old, and young people like José Miguel, 19, who declared “Christ gives meaning to my life.”
A privilege to be able to be here and see him, truly it moved me and it was wonderful.
A formal farewell for a historic visit
The event also featured the dramatic entrada of the statues of the Virgin of the Almudena and Christ of Medinaceli, carried on shoulders by confraternities as in Holy Week. A floral offering followed. Attendees included Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez, Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez, Madrid mayor José Luis Martínez Almeida, and Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who sat among the crowd. Victoria Federica was spotted filming the event on her phone, later telling reporters the private audience had been “super cool.” As the Pope departed smiling in his official car, the Bernabéu roared one last salute, ending the penultimate day of a visit that had transformed the city’s institutions and public spaces, with illuminated buildings, free cultural events and a security and logistics operation described as Madrid’s largest in recent history.
