Spain has mobilised more than 15,000 police officers for the visit of Pope Leo XIV, in what the Interior Ministry has called the largest police deployment it has ever designed.
The National Police and the Guardia Civil have provided the bulk of the personnel, joined by Catalonia’s Mossos d’Esquadra, the Canary Islands’ regional force and local police in the other cities the Pope would visit.
Spanish interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska launched the operation’s main Command Centre (CEMAN) on Friday at the Canillas police complex in Madrid, 24 hours before the Pope’s arrival. The centre would handle monitoring and permanent coordination during the pontiff’s stay in the capital.
Grande-Marlaska said the scale of the event was considerable, with more than 400,000 people expected at a vigil in Madrid’s Plaza de Lima on June 6 and more than one million at a Mass in Plaza de Cibeles on June 7.
The critical phase of the special security plan would be activated from midnight on June 6 and run until the visit ends on June 12. Its aim is to secure the event sites, accommodation, transit routes, emergency facilities and critical infrastructure.
The plan has been tailored to each location. It would cover Madrid from midnight on June 6 to 1.30pm on June 9, Barcelona from 7am on June 9 to 8am on June 11, and the Canary Islands from midnight on June 11 until the Pope’s aircraft leaves Spanish airspace on June 12.
During those windows the plan would operate at its highest level, in coordination with Spain’s anti-terrorism alert, which is currently at level 4 (reinforced).
The Interior Ministry said the immediate security around the Pope and his delegation would be handled by the National Police, with the Guardia Civil, the Mossos d’Esquadra, local forces and the Canary Islands police covering the wider operation.
The deployment includes more than 1,000 ground vehicles and 16 aircraft, alongside personnel from the Royal Household, the Prime Minister’s office and the armed forces. The Mossos d’Esquadra alone would deploy more than 6,100 officers.
Similar command centres would operate in Barcelona, Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, with support from the Spanish Bishops’ Conference and the country’s air navigation authority, Enaire, among others.
In parallel, the Community of Madrid has activated its Territorial Civil Protection Plan (Platercam) in its alert phase for the duration of the Pope’s stay in the capital, from June 6-9, 2026.
The Madrid 112 Security and Emergencies Agency (ASEM112) would maintain operational situation level 0, the lowest of the four levels foreseen, which carries no risk to the public. It would also reinforce its daily staffing to cope with a possible rise in emergency calls.
The regional government said the measure would improve response capacity and the joint running of emergency services, “ensuring rapid and effective attention to the mass arrival of pilgrims and visitors to the region”.
The Madrid leg forms the first stage of a wider apostolic journey through Spain, taking in Barcelona and the Canary Islands. It is the first papal trip to the country since Pope Benedict XVI visited in 2011.
The Pope accepted an invitation from King Felipe VI and the Spanish Catholic Church. He is due to arrive at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport on the morning of June 6 and is also expected to become the first pope to address the Spanish Parliament, in a joint session of both chambers.
