Madrid—As more than one million pilgrims gathered in Plaza de Cibeles for the Corpus Christi Mass this Sunday, Pope Leo XIV outlined his vision of the Eucharist and its role in contemporary Christian life.

Reflecting on Spain’s deep Catholic heritage and longstanding tradition of Eucharistic devotion, the pope recalled the country’s historic Corpus Christi processions to show that Jesus “is not confined to the church, but comes out to meet us.”

“Jesus travels the streets, crosses the squares and visits our neighborhoods, dwelling in the settings of our daily lives. He is a God who is close to us, who walks with his people, the Lord of history. He is comfort to the weak, light for families, hope for the sick and peace for those who suffer”

Leo also cautioned against confining such processions to “wistful nostalgia.” Rather, religiosity is “not a museum of the past to be visited, but a school of faith from which to draw even today,” he said.

According to the pope, this “school of faith” teaches believers not only to kneel before God but also before their neighbors, “because no one can kneel before the Lord and despise their brother.”

Leo further stressed that the Eucharist cannot remain enclosed “in a private devotion.” Its public dimension should inspire Christians to serve others, particularly those who are socially vulnerable and marginalized.

“[The Eucharist is a] school from which we learn that God is a real presence and that we too are called to be present in the realities and challenges of society, not shying away, but personally committing ourselves to the building of the common good.”

To underscore this message, Leo pointed to Spain’s tradition of combining the solemnity of Corpus Christi with the Day for Charity.

“The Christ who processes through the streets in the monstrance is the same one who identifies with the poor, the downtrodden, those who are alone and forsaken,” he said.

Pope Leo is currently on an apostolic visit to Spain. He is scheduled to depart Madrid on Monday and travel to Barcelona.

[Photo credits: LuisMagan]

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Dr. Pedro Gabriel is a Portuguese Internet journalist, having received a diploma with Honours from the London School of Journalism in 2021. He is a member of the International Association of Religion Journalists. He is currently residing in Portugal with his wife, Claire.

He is one of the co-founders of Where Peter Is, where he remains as one of its main contributors.

He won second place from the 2024 Catholic Media Association Awards in the category “History” for his book Heresy Disguised as Tradition (En Route, 2023) and also won first place and honourable mention from the same organization in the category “Pope Francis” and “Sacraments” for his apologetics book “The Orthodoxy of Amoris Laetitia (Wipf and Stock, 2022). His latest apologetics book is “Rigidity: Faithfulness or Heterodoxy?” (En Route, 2024).

He was an accredited press corps member for the press coverage of World Youth Day Lisbon 2023.

Currently, he is taking classes in moral theology at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. He is also a medical oncologist, a parish reader, and a published writer of Catholic novels.

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Claire is a Filipina global IT professional, residing in Portugal with her husband, Pedro Gabriel. She provides multimedia support, coverage and website maintenance.

She wrote articles for Where Peter Is and Ignitum Today, and provided special news coverage for Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) News Media during Pope Francis´s 2015 papal visit in the Philippines.

She was an accredited press corps member for the press coverage of World Youth Day Lisbon 2023. She was active in Catholic apologetics and pro-life initiatives back in the Philippines.

She is currently covering the 16th General Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (2-27 October 2024).

She is currently taking journalism classes at the London School of Journalism. She is a member of the International Association of Religion Journalists.

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