Pope leaves Spain after drawing 1.5 million people

Aug 21, 2011, 17:00 GMT

Madrid - 'The pope felt at home in Spain,' Benedict XVI said Sunday on concluding a four-day visit to Madrid, where he drew an estimated 1.5 million people.

Spain's 'open, pluralistic and respectful society is capable of moving forward without surrendering its profoundly religious and Catholic soul,' the pontiff said in his departure address at the Barajas airport, where King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia bid him farewell.

Benedict's visit for the World Youth Day celebrations culminated in Sunday's huge mass at the Cuatro Vientos airport, where he exhorted young believers to actively practise their faith despite 'rejection and indifference.'

It was important for Catholic youths to participate in the life of parishes, to attend mass and to pray, the pope said in the increasingly secularized country where an estimated 60 per cent of young people hardly ever go to church.

The presence of pilgrims from nearly 200 countries, carrying flags and wearing colourful t-shirts, made the Cuatro Vientos airport look like a gigantic mosaic.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi put the number of people attending the World Youth Day celebrations at about 1.5 million.

The next World Youth Day will take place in Rio de Janeiro in 2013, the pope announced, saying he intended to travel to the Brazilian city then.

After the mass, the pontiff had lunch with Spanish cardinals and met with 12,500 of the volunteers who had helped to organize his visit, before heading for the airport.

Thousands of the pilgrims had spent the night at Cuatro Vientos - an airport used mainly by private aircraft - following a prayer vigil there with the pope the night before.

The vigil was interrupted by a rainstorm which forced the pope to suspend part of his speech. Winds knocked over a lamppost which fell on a tent and caused minor injuries to seven people, according to emergency services.

Benedict referred to Saturday's events at the Sunday mass, telling young people he had thought a lot about them overnight and saying he hoped 'you have been able to sleep a little.'

Emergency and health services attended to more than 2,700 pilgrims who suffered mainly from heat-related health problems at the Cuatro Vientos airport over the weekend. Three of the patients were in serious condition.

The fervour for the pope stood in stark contrast to growing secularization in Spain, where only about 70 per cent of the population now define themselves as Catholics, down from about 80 per cent a decade ago.