MADRID (RNS) — Pope Leo XIV urged young people to “be human” in a world that he said was marked by violence, wars and fake connections, during a meeting with more than 400,000 youth gathered at Plaza de Lima in Madrid on Saturday (June 6).

“In the face of the emptiness of indifference and compliance, before the violence of war and lies, you must be the sparks of a new humanity,” he said. “This is precisely the mission I entrust to you: that you be human. Yes, be human: men and women of flesh and blood!”

Leo encouraged young people to cast aside appearances, to seek justice and to live an honest life. “Be human as Christ is human, the perfect man, the risen One who shares history with us in every age,” he said.

The pope is in Spain for a six-day trip that began on Saturday, taking him to Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands.

He made the remarks at a prayer vigil on a hot summer evening in the center of Madrid, where interest in spirituality has been surging. A survey of 10,000 young Spanish people by the Spanish consultancy firm GAD3 found that half of Generation Z respondents said spirituality is more present in their lives than it was five years ago. The study also found that religiosity among youth tends to be less institutional and more personal.

The same study found that cellphones are the new pulpits for many young people, who are rediscovering religiosity through their screens.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Madrid registered an increase in adult baptisms in 2025, totaling a record 900. “Young people, I think, or at least one feels, have lost a bit of the fear of expressing that need for searching and that need for answers. That is the rebirth that we see,” said Sara de la Torre, spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Madrid.

For many of the young people gathered at the papal vigil, it was the first time they saw a pope in person. Pope Benedict XVI was the last pope to visit Spain, in 2011 during World Youth Day, when he urged the young to be “firm in the faith.” And John Paul II had said Spanish youth were “the hope of the church” during his visits in 1982 and 2003.

Leo echoed his predecessors, saying that young people are called to “lead society in a new direction” and “bring about change.”

A group of 10 youth joined the pope onstage to ask personal questions about faith. Answering questions, Leo said God’s voice can be found in silence where “we come to understand that ideologies pass away, while the truth always remains.” He also spoke about being a missionary in Peru and the importance of leading through example.

The pope also encouraged young people to remember that they are free in their faith and “are always free from all coercion and deception. We are free from passing fads because we are disciples of the truth.”

As he did during the Jubilee of Youth in Rome last year — where, as the newly elected Pope Leo, he had his first real test as pontiff in front of over a million young people — the pope led a Eucharistic adoration before a backdrop of paintings from the nearby Museo Nacional del Prado, Spain’s national art museum. The devotional practice has become one of the most visible signs of Catholic revival among young Spaniards and Europeans.

The Catholic youth movement Hakuna, which now counts over 35,000 members in over 60 countries, started around Eucharistic adoration. Known for its Christian pop music, Hakuna’s musical group performed in front of the pope.

“(Young people) knock on the door for very different reasons – some for the emotional question, for the aesthetic question, others for a desire to better understand the reason for living,” said José Restán, editorial director of the Spanish Catholic radio station COPE.

Faith in Spain often passes through music, which acts as a bridge between secularism and new religious zeal – from singer Rosalia’s mystical aesthetic and sound, to explicitly Catholic groups like Hakuna, to the “rocker priests” of La Voz del Desierto, to the collective TUYO.

“When you think of young people, you always think of pop music,” said Augustinian Rev. Pedro Alberto Sánchez, who has known Pope Leo for over a decade and currently serves as the chapel master of the Royal Monastery of El Escorial in Spain.

Sanchez’s choir also performed traditional chants at the youth vigil, which he thinks have also inspired many to be drawn to the beauty and tradition of the Catholic Church. “Why do they come here? Even if they know a liturgy is long, that it’s a liturgy with Latin chants? I think it’s because, objectively, it’s beautiful and always has value, and this always attracts the human person,” he said.