Huge crowds throng Madrid streets as Pope holds open-air Mass

The pontiff waved at those gathered from his popemobile as he arrived at the Plaza de Cibeles.

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He greeted the crowds as he made his way through the city in his popemobile on the second day of his official visit to the country, with King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia among the congregants for his morning service.

Worshippers waved Spanish and Vatican flags and shouted "long live the Pope", while others threw petals upon his arrival at the Plaza de Cibeles.

During his sermon, he urged those gathered to express their faith by helping others, saying God "identifies with the poor, the downtrodden, those who are alone and forsaken".

He said they should not look at religion as "a museum of the past to be visited, but a school of faith from which to draw even today".