In compliance with the tradition of the royal family, but as a private act given the religious content, the King attended this Friday, March 1 during Lent, the traditional kissing of the image of Christ of Medinaceli that is venerated in the church of the same name located in Madrid, a few meters from the Congress of Deputies. It is the second time that Felipe VI attends this ceremony since his proclamation; He did it in 2018, while in the rest of the other years the person in charge has been his mother, Queen Sofia and also Infanta Elena. Twenty years ago, shortly before his wedding to Letizia Ortiz, the then prince came with his fiancée; The current queen who does not hide her secularism has not returned to the temple.
The King arrived near the church shortly after 10 in the morning, greeting some of the thousands of people who were queuing to comply with the tradition of kissing the foot of the wooden carving that represents Christ. and, at the same time, beg for his intercession. Once inside the church and while the organ played the chords of the national anthem, the King advanced through the central nave to the applause of the faithful who had managed to enter first.
Upon reaching the carving, the King crossed himself and leaned down to kiss the right foot, and then crossed himself again and, after a few minutes of meditation, crossed himself for the third time. After holding a brief meeting in the sacristy with the Capuchin friars, led by his superior, Benjamín Echeverría, and members of the Brotherhood of Jesús de Medinaceli, the King has left the temple.
To attend the religious rite, the King wore the cord with the honorary slave medal that the Brotherhood awarded him in 2018. At the exit of the basilica, the King once again greeted the people who were closest to the entrance before heading by car to attend the official event on their agenda, the delivery of scholarships from the Iberdrola Foundation that contribute to excellence in the training of young people, providing them with a high degree of qualification that facilitates their access to their first job.
The emblematic carving that is kept in the church of Madrid was sculpted in Seville in the first half of the 17th century by order of the Dukes of Medinaceli and in 1682 it was moved to Madrid after it was recovered from the Muslims.
Returning to the capital, it was placed in a small hermitage located in what is now the basilica and the custom of kissing the foot of Christ on the first Friday of March as a sign of devotion was established.
It is estimated that every year, thousands of people come to visit Christ coinciding with the first month of March. As detailed on its website by the Archbishopric of Madrid, with data from the Municipal Police, the influx of faithful to the temple coinciding with the first Friday in March has reached 300,000 people on previous occasions.
