At the cathedral's birth in 1163, the entire square was packed with medieval houses, split by a single street. The archaeological team has reached their cellars — and therefore also the time in history they represent.

The pontiff "highlights a very underappreciated Augustinian value — especially in this noisy world — and that is to develop your interior life," said Fr. Rob Hagan, prior of the Augustinian Province of St. Thomas of Villanova.

Pope Leo XIV brought bustling Madrid to a halt Sunday, drawing 1.2 million people — the largest crowd he has encountered yet in his 13-month pontificate — for his first public Mass in Spain and a Eucharistic procession through the Spanish capital.