The face of Leo XIV in black and white on a mustard yellow background. This is what citizens and tourists will see on streetlights, bus shelters, screens, highways, balconies, and buses from this week until June 9, when the Pope leaves Madrid and heads to Barcelona, the second stop of his visit to Spain. During his time in the capital and the two weeks prior, the city will be decorated to the max. Banners on the M-30 bridges, pennants, and more than 100,000 white and yellow plants ― the colors of the Vatican flag ― to welcome the pontiff. How much will it cost to decorate everything? There is no concrete investment figure, said the mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida (PP), during the presentation of the preparations. “The expenditure we make on decoration is fully justified and represents a very important return for the city of Madrid,” he defended from Cibeles.
Each government area and each company has made its own budget, Almeida indicated. “The EMT [the municipal bus company], Calle 30 [a fully municipalized company this January that manages the highway], the culture and tourism areas. I do not know exactly what the investment figure might be, but I can guarantee that, in relation to the overall return that the visit has for the city of Madrid, the expenditure that can be made on all these types of actions is minimal,” he added. The City Council, he emphasized, does not cover travel expenses, only decoration, ornamentation, and logistics.
These types of actions, already underway, include placing the image designed by the Madrid City Council in every available space: advertising supports throughout the city, about thirty urban buses, the screens in Callao and the Palacio de la Prensa, 1,600 pennants on central streets, large banners hung at 14 points on the M-30, or in the elevators of the EMT parking lots.
“Balcony banners will be provided, in collaboration with the Madrid Hotels Association, so that balconies can be decorated,” the mayor detailed. For now, they are studying how to distribute these balcony banners. Priority will be given to the areas through which the Pope will pass, such as Paseo de la Castellana, but “without excluding any area, any place that also wants to make use of these flags.” Before the big and colorful events, Leo XIV will visit a Caritas center in one of the most troubled streets of the capital. The note sent to the media indicates that these banners will be hung from municipal buildings, homes, and hotels along the main routes of the papal itinerary.
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Almeida has commented that the announced decoration is to “give His Holiness the welcome he deserves.” Posters and stickers will also be distributed among hospitality businesses, 15,000 hand-held pennants, hats, bracelets, and fans for the large mass on the 7th at Cibeles. The City Council has already tendered a contract for 58,750 euros for pennants of Spain and the Vatican.
More than 100,000 white and yellow flowers will be placed in parks, streets, and central squares of eight districts, such as El Retiro, Cibeles, the Recoletos and Prado promenades, or the Debod Temple, among others. The deployment does not end there. The City Council will install “floral compositions” with giant letters spelling Leo XIV in spaces such as the Plaza de Oriente and Plaza de España, the Sabatini gardens, and Retiro Park. And in Casa de Campo, a giant flag for aerial view, made with white and yellow powder.
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