Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass for vast crowds in Madrid and led a Corpus Domini procession over floral carpets made from more than 30,000 flowers. He called Spain’s devotional traditions a “school of faith” and urged unity during his first visit to the country.
Posts tagged as “Madrid”
Pope Leo XIV began a weeklong visit to Spain by urging people to reject polarisation and defend peace. The trip includes a youth rally in Madrid, an address to parliament, a visit to the Sagrada Familia and a stop in the Canary Islands focused on migration.
Seventeen Americans evacuated from a hantavirus-affected cruise ship have arrived in Nebraska for monitoring, with two passengers showing signs of infection. The rare Andes strain involved is transmissible between humans, but officials stress the public risk remains low.
A hantavirus outbreak aboard the Dutch cruise ship M/V Hondius has led to nine cases and three deaths, prompting international quarantine and monitoring efforts. The Andes virus strain involved can spread between people through close contact and causes severe respiratory illness.
A significant power outage affected multiple regions in Spain and Portugal, disrupting essential services and infrastructure, including metro stations and the Spanish parliament. Efforts to restore electricity were underway, with Red Electrica and E-Redes focusing on phased reconnections, particularly in the northern and southern regions of Spain. The outage caused major traffic disruptions, especially in Madrid, and highlighted the vulnerability of critical infrastructure to such incidents.
Alejandro Vidal-Quadras, a veteran Spanish right-wing politician, was shot in the face in broad daylight on a central Madrid street on Thursday. The shooter is believed to have fled the scene on a motorbike, and Vidal-Quadras' life is not in danger. Outrage has ensued in Spain, with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez condemning the attack and calling for an investigation.
Spanish police have arrested a man suspected of sexually assaulting a journalist while she was live on air. Isa Balado, a reporter for Spanish broadcaster Cuatro, was reporting on an armed robbery when the man walked up behind her and appeared to touch her bottom. The incident has sparked outrage from government ministers and an investigation is underway, with the Spanish government calling for tougher measures to protect journalists from similar attacks.