Countdown to the arrival of Pope Leo XIV in Spain

Two spots, a little longer than usual, one on friendship and meeting despite differences and the other on the need to know and treat others “.“looking up”will be the two audiovisual stories with which Spain is preparing the visit of Pope Leo XIV. 

Rafael Rubio, National Communications Coordinator for the visit; Gabriel González Andrío, Head of Marketing and Campaigns for the visit; Marcos Tejeiro, General Director of UM (Omnicom Media Spain) and Sara de la Torre, Communications Director of the Archdiocese of Madrid, shared with the press some of the news and advances in the preparations for the Pontiff's visit to Spain. For three weeks, on Tuesdays, these advances will be announced at the various venues. 

The spots: “Metro” and “New (old) friends””.”

“Metro” and “New (Old) Friends” are the two video capsules, which will be shown mainly on television and social networks, with which the organization of the papal visit “aims to challenge both believers and non-believers.”.

The campaign has counted with Omnicon Media for strategic planning; with Ábside Media for production and with TheCyranos for creativity. On this aspect, Gabriel González Andrío wanted to thank the volunteers, not actors, who starred in these spots and how they want to reflect this need to overcome polarization and especially, to establish personal relationships overcoming differences and prejudices, in preparation for the arrival of the Pope and in line with the messages that, in this regard, Pope Leo XIV has been launching since the beginning of his pontificate. 

Madrid events

Sara de la Torre has advanced some aspects of the acts and celebrations that Leo XIV will preside in Madrid. 

In this regard, he explained the route of the Corpus Christi procession, presided over by the pontiff, which will start from Cibeles, where the Holy Mass will be celebrated, along Alcalá Street to the height of the parish of San José. There he will turn around, returning to the starting point.  

De la Torre also wanted to point out that “for the distribution of communion at the Holy Mass in Cibeles, a strategic plan has been established to prevent anyone from missing communion. In this sense, “500 priests and 1,800 extraordinary ministers of communion, will be distributed throughout the space and in addition, 6 parishes of the environment: San José, the basilica of Jesus de Medinaceli, San Jerónimo, San Manuel and San Benito, Santa Barbara and the cultural center of the town, will be ‘Eucharistic parishes’, to which you can go to receive communion in the case of not reaching one of these ministers”. It should be noted that, as of today, there are 250,000 people registered for this celebration of the Holy Mass in Cibeles. 

The Director of Communications of the Archdiocese of Madrid has also revealed that, in the whole area of Castellana, several “listening points” will be established. A pastoral initiative that has been carried out in the Archdiocese of Madrid for some time and that will have its visible expression in these days, with the aim that anyone who wants and needs it, can be heard by agents of this pastoral, trained for it, and start a process of accompaniment. 

Participation

In addition, some of the participation figures have been announced. In addition to the quarter of a million people attending the Mass and procession of Corpus Christi, Rafael Rubio has announced that there are about 160,000 registered for the Saturday Vigil; 36,000 for the Holy Mass in Gran Canaria and 25,000 for the one in Tenerife. No data has been given for the events in Barcelona. 

Volunteer kits and merchandising

The press conference has also served to announce the equipment of the volunteers and the organization of these celebrations. Volunteers and organization will be equipped with different colored t-shirts and caps, according to their work: 

Red for general staff, orange for volunteers, blue for accessibility volunteers and green for information volunteers. In addition, the merchandising for this visit is now available in the online store of El Corte Ingles and on the web Conelpapa.es. The benefits will go entirely to defray the expenses of the trip and also thanks to the collaboration of the Foundation. Contemplare, religious products made by different cloistered convents in Spain are also for sale.