Pope Leo XIV on Sunday celebrated an open-air mass in Madrid attended by around 1.2 million people, according to official figures.
It was the largest crowd to attend one of Leo's masses since the American was elected pope in May last year. The police eventually had to close off the entrances due to the crowds, Spanish media reported.
In his sermon, Leo emphasized the tight bond between faith and everyday life.
"Jesus does not remain confined to the temple, but comes out to meet us. Jesus walks through the streets, crosses the squares, visits our neighbourhoods and dwells in the places of our daily lives," he said in the Plaza de Cibeles in the centre of Madrid.
Nearly 400,000 people from Spain and abroad had registered to attend in the run-up to the event. However, as registration was not compulsory, many people also turned up for the mass unannounced.
Among those present were Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia, Crown Princess Leonor and other figures from politics and society.
Faith must not remain a private matter but must also be visible in everyday life and in society, said the leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics. At the same time, the pontiff underscored the social dimension, noting that Christ identifies "with the poor, the downtrodden, the lonely and the foresaken."
The Eucharistic celebration took place on a specially erected altar covering an area of around 600 square metres. Hanging above the centre of the altar was a monumental figure of Christ, a replica of an image created by the Sisters of Bethlehem.
According to the organizers, around 5,000 people, including other clergy and guests of honour, were gathered in the immediate vicinity of the altar. The mass was also broadcast on 42 large screens in the surrounding streets.
After its conclusion, the programme included a procession through Madrid's Recoletos neighbourhood, with Leo due to travel in the Popemobile through most of the city's most visited areas.
In the afternoon, on the second day of his visit to Spain, he was to attend an event at Madrid's Movistar Arena with representatives from the worlds of culture, art, business and sport, and deliver a speech there.
The day is due to end with a dinner at the residence of the Archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal José Cobo Cano.
