"El hábito no hace al monje."
The habit does not make the monk — as Madrid's police could attest this week when two robbers dressed as a priest and a nun discovered that a costume is no substitute for virtue. A reminder that appearances deceive and that true character runs deeper than cloth.
Good morning from a city that just played host to history. The papal visit of Pope Leo XIV — the first by any pontiff to the Congress of Deputies, the largest security deployment Madrid has ever mounted — is now in the books, and the capital draws a deep breath and stretches back into its everyday self. The flower petals have been swept from Cibeles, the last security cordons have been rolled up, and the 11,000 police and Guardia Civil officers who safeguarded the four-day visit are heading back to their regular beats. The city is sun-drenched and serene. Today thermometers flirt with 31°C, the terraces along Paseo de la Castellana are packed, and the Feria del Libro draws its last weekend crowds into the shaded alleys of El Retiro. Madrid is many things — imperial, irreverent, inexhaustible — and this morning it is simply itself again. Grab a café con leche and a seat in the sun. There is nowhere else quite like it.
The tunnel boring machine Mayrit has smashed through its first major milestone, crossing under the River Manzanares and the M-30 ring road to break into the future Madrid Río station eleven days ahead of schedule. The Consejero de Vivienda, Transportes e Infraestructuras, Jorge Rodrigo, was on hand to receive the cutting head as it punched through the station wall in the Paseo de Yeserías, describing the moment as 'one of joy and pride.' Since departing from the future Comillas station in Carabanchel on 26 March, Mayrit has excavated 1,116 metres of tunnel — 21% of the planned route — and installed 656 concrete ring segments. The machine will now undergo two weeks of maintenance inside the Madrid Río cavern: cutting tools will be replaced, systems checked, and the 98-metre-long body fully inserted before it resumes its journey toward Palos de la Frontera station, the longest inter-station stretch at 1,613 metres. The Line 11 extension, budgeted at over €2.5 billion, will eventually reach Conde de Casal, with full excavation expected by mid-2027. The project is a cornerstone of the Comunidad de Madrid's strategy to connect the southern districts with the city centre via high-capacity metro infrastructure.
National Police have arrested seven people in connection with an armed robbery at a jewellery store in Madrid's Ciudad Lineal district, in which two of the perpetrators disguised themselves as a priest and a nun. The heist unfolded around 11:30 AM on Wednesday when the disguised pair entered the shop on Calle Alcalá and asked to see several pieces while a third suspect forced an employee into the back room. Police from the Grupo XIII de Atracos responded within minutes, supported by the Grupo de Atención al Ciudadano, and detained the three inside the store. The man dressed as a priest allegedly brandished a firearm at two officers before being subdued. Two additional suspects were arrested nearby, apparently acting as lookouts, while two more were captured on the M-30 after ramming a police vehicle during their escape. Investigators seized a firearm at the scene and are examining whether the group is linked to a string of jewellery-store robberies across the Comunidad de Madrid in recent weeks, including incidents in Torrelodones, La Vaguada, Vallecas, and Torrejón de Ardoz.
Real Madrid issued a strongly worded statement on Wednesday to clarify the scope of a recent Supreme Court decision regarding concerts at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, insisting that the court has not ruled on the legality of the events themselves. Several media outlets had reported that the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by the club and returned the case to Madrid's Administrative Court No. 31, sparking widespread discussion about the future of live music at the venue. The club's statement emphasised that the ruling addresses only a procedural matter — that legal proceedings initiated by a neighbourhood association will continue in the lower court — and that 'there is currently no court ruling that has declared that the concerts held in the stadium were contrary to urban planning regulations or applicable licences.' Real Madrid also noted that the Bernabéu operates under the same authorisation system as the Metropolitano stadium, where concerts continue without interruption. The judicial process will now follow its ordinary course. The clarification comes as the club prepares a €150 million bid for Manchester City forward Julián Álvarez, announced earlier this week.
The 85th edition of the Madrid Book Fair enters its final four days at El Retiro Park, having already surpassed 400,000 visitors — a figure buoyed by the thousands of pilgrims who remained in the capital after the papal visit. The fair, which opened on 29 May under the theme 'Leer para entender', features 350 publisher stalls and more than 500 authors across its 18-day programme. The closing weekend highlights include a children's storytelling marathon on Saturday, appearances by two Nobel laureates in literature, and a special tribute to Miguel de Cervantes on the 409th anniversary of his death on 23 April. The fair has been a meeting point for readers, writers, and publishers from across the Spanish-speaking world. Sunday's closing ceremony at the Paseo de Coches will conclude with the traditional handover to next year's guest city of honour. The ferias del libro remain one of Madrid's most beloved cultural traditions, and this year's edition — coinciding with the papal visit, the Feria de San Isidro, and the Bad Bunny concerts — has demonstrated the city's extraordinary capacity to host world-class cultural events simultaneously.