Madrid, beyond everything surrounding Lima Square, the vigil’s meeting point, remained as always. In Sáinz de Baranda, two middle-aged men shared several cans of beer sitting on a bench, and one told the other about a problem he’d had with his car. They looked at each other with a certain tenderness. “Life is shit,” they said to each other in despair.
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On one of the subways heading towards the Chamartín district, another type of conversation was heard. “All my Instagram is photos of the Pope, how cool.” This group of young people listens to Despistaos. One of them wears a wooden rosary wrapped around his wrist. The vigil attendees are easily recognizable; almost all wear some religious distinctive on their wrist. They have a Camino de Santiago bracelet as an amulet or one from Effetá (a Catholic initiative mainly aimed at young people that organizes spiritual retreats).
This group of friends had decided to go because you can’t ghost the Pope. “He called us. We can’t not answer the Pope, we’re going to listen to what he has to tell us. We already went to Lisbon [during Pope Francis’s visit, at World Youth Day three years ago], and it was really cool to see all the young people together, the whole Church united,” explains Julia.
Inside the enclosure surrounding the stage where Pope Leo XIV gave his speech, in one of the sectors that hosts San Juan de la Cruz Square, there were people of all ages. Some, very old. Belén, 78, wanted to enjoy having His Holiness nearby. She was accompanied by her daughter, who waited to her right, and friends from her parish. “It fills me that he comes, to have him so close. At my age, I might not have another opportunity,” she confessed to this newspaper under the watchful eye of her daughter and a spread of backpacks on the ground with everything needed to withstand the heat.
Many deceive themselves with a small portable fan. Also the consecrated women. Among them was Sister María, who wears a rosary hanging from her habit. They are from the congregation of the Servants of Mary. They have gathered from all cities. “Sisters from Santander, from Almería, from Salamanca, from Valladolid… and I could go on, eh.” She admires Pope Leo XIV for his references. “He always responds with a word from the Gospel. And besides, he is a man of reconciliation.”
-Which is your favorite Pope?
-For me, all of them. He is an ambassador of Christ on earth. And I believe we have the Popes we need at every moment.
Sister María says she professed in the order at 18 years old.
It wasn’t so easy to have a conversation with the priests because they were working. They confessed anyone who asked. “I didn’t know him at all,” said a boy about the religious man with whom he had cried less than five minutes earlier. “I needed to confess. I told my friend. It was something I was postponing. The constancy of having God present every day is difficult for me. It’s complicated because my environment doesn’t have Him present.” He felt relieved. “Coming back is never difficult.”
A few meters from him, another priest waits for someone to approach him to ask for forgiveness for their sins. “I just arrived, so no one has come yet. But they always come.” This priest felt the vocation in a way that made him leave everything behind. “I had been with my girlfriend for seven years, but I was closer to God than ever. And I have never regretted it,” he confessed, under the sun.
In the hours leading up to the Pope’s vigil, some weren’t talking about anything. A boy, sitting on the ground, closed his eyes and wasn’t praying. “I’m exhausted, not praying,” he laughed. “I felt like coming. When the Pope last came to Spain, I was ten years old and it caught my attention. It seems like a nice opportunity. You think of the church and you don’t think of this, so many people gathered. It seems impressive that all of us young people gather.” Álex hasn’t fully revered all the Popes. “I was a hater of Pope Francis, and then you mature in faith and understand that he was a Pope for the people and for the missionaries.” Álex was accompanied by two friends, and all three wore a Camino de Santiago bracelet. They showed it with great pride.
“It’s easier to believe in God,” explained a married couple. They have been married for five years and yesterday they took refuge in a street corner because there was a blockage at the entrance to their sector and they had their three-month-old son with them. The baby was asleep. “The idea is to be here, but we don’t know when.” Alberto and Alicia were virgins until marriage. “There is a physical donation and the surrender is total. I always knew I would wait. I prayed for him before I met him. This love is different, there is eternity.”
-Are Catholics happier?
-There might be more happy atheists. They don’t have a conscience, they don’t understand sin, but we are very happy. We think about eternity.
