“While the time comes for us to meet in Cibeles... God willing, we will see each other in June”. The final words of the Pope's message to the participants in the Feast of the Resurrection, read by Cardinal José Cobo, caused the 85,000 people in Madrid's Plaza de Cibeles to burst into jubilation. An audience already ready to jump, shout and dance, which reached absolute joy with the first performance.
Saturday, April 11, could be experienced -with the obvious differences- as a prelude, and on a small scale, to what is expected to be the first visit of Pope Leo XIV to Spain. It is not risky to suppose that in June, in that same cordial spot in the capital, the number of faithful will increase at least tenfold.
“He who sings breeds twice, said St. Augustine,” repeated the announcer of Cadena 100 Javi Nieves to the devoted audience in Cibeles. And he recalled that the Feast of the Resurrection, the fourth of its kind, was to celebrate the essential event of Christians, who want to show it in the streets. In a festive way, with a concert that united the seventies or eighties music of mythical groups like Boney M or Gipsy Kings with the current music of Hakuna.
“Easter does not remain enclosed in the tomb; it bursts into the city,” said Pope Leo XIV in a message addressed to the gathering and read by the Archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal Cobo. The phrase was visually embodied in the thousands of young and old, teenagers and families, immigrants from parishes in the suburbs, students and nuns who gathered at the foot of the Palacio de Comunicaciones de Cibeles along the Paseo de la Castellana and the Paseo del Prado.
Language of music and joy
The text of Leo XIV, disseminated in a festive atmosphere, was meaningful. He recalled that what is proper for a Christian is to be joyful and to celebrate -this is the underlying idea of these concerts organized by the ACDP, the Association of Propagandists-: “It is good and necessary that Easter also finds a language of music, of encounter and shared joy”, the Pontiff pointed out. “Faith in Jesus Christ gives meaning to human joy; it purifies it, elevates it and brings it to fullness.” But he warned that this is more than an emotional high: “Easter asks of us something greater than a passing emotion; it invites us to allow ourselves to be reached by the Resurrection, so that our life too may begin to be new.” “Easter does not remain enclosed in the tomb; it bursts into the city and enters into everyday life through the lives of men. And this continues to happen today.
In this connection, he recalled the martyrs of the faith in the religious persecution in Spain during the Second Republic (124 of them ascended to the altars in October last year and almost two hundred others will do so this year): “You see in your compatriots who, in the last century, were martyrs and witnesses of Jesus; in them, the victory of Christ over death became fidelity, fortitude and dedication. You are not only called to remember them, but to rely on their example so that Christ may once again pass through your streets”.
He insisted: “The world needs to hear about Christ and see him in the works of Christians. We need young people who are not ashamed of the Gospel, communities that radiate hope, witnesses capable of making the Lord present in every environment, lives on fire that make the beauty of faith visible. Evangelization is not born, above all, of strategies, but of hearts transformed by the Risen Lord.
As Javi Nieves recalled, the Cibeles concert celebrated Easter, but it was open to anyone, Christian or non-Christian. The believer shares his joy with others. And it was palpable in the euphoric, familiar and joyful atmosphere, in the joyful bounces, in the dances of people riding on top of each other, in the shaken cell phones with the flashlight on....
The concert began with the intervention of Angel Catela, a young artist of great talent, who was the winner of the contest organized by the ACDP last year.
The Gipsy Kings, French gypsies, kings of flamenco rumba, made the audience dance to some of their best-known songs such as “Volaré” and “Bamboleo”. “Joy and heart is the main thing” and “gypsies are also Christians, we follow Jesus”, proclaimed the veteran vocalist of the group.
The popular DJ El Pulpo, announcer of the COPE channel, was in charge of cheering up the audience between acts. And the apotheosis -well, one of many that night- came when Liz Mitchell, from Boney M, another iconic group of the seventies, appeared on stage. A frenzy of jumping from the audience and other performers on stage began. They belted out numerous hits of theirs, including the popular “Rasputin”.
A moment to pray
“Christians are not boring,” repeated El Pulpo between performances, although at this point, explanations were almost superfluous. Javi Nieves recalled that the meaning of the celebration was not only to live the Resurrection with a feast, but also to be in communion with those who cannot celebrate it because of the war. He asked to join the prayer called by the Holy Father on the same day to pray for peace, so that those who have power may stop the wars in the world.
The climax was provided by Hakuna Music Group. Little presentation was needed. Their songs were sung loudly by the tens of thousands of attendees. “Huracán”, “La misericordia”, “Un segundo”, “La madre de Hakuna”, among others, to finish “unidos a la Reina de la Paz”, with an overwhelming Salve rociera.
“How I wish there were festivities all over the world! How I wish that everywhere Easter joy would find voices, faces and songs! But even more: how I wish that the very existence of Christians could become a concert, a great harmony of faith, unity, communion and charity, capable of proclaiming to the world that Christ is alive. The Pope's message continued to echo in thousands of hearts gathered around one of the fountains that are the capital's hallmark.
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