MADRID, Spain, May 31, 2026 — The evangelical churches in Spain saw many years of prayers answered this weekend when large crowds filled the Palacio Vistalegre, a venue that has historically hosted bullfights. On the opening night of the free, two-night evangelistic outreach, the packed arena was overflowing, with thousands of people lining the streets outside to hear Franklin Graham share a message of hope from the Bible.
“God made you, He loves you, and He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, from heaven to this earth to save you from your sins,” Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association told the crowds. “If you can’t remember anything else tonight, remember this—God loves you. And He will forgive your sins if you come to Jesus Christ by faith.”
Hundreds of people responded to the Gospel message, including 36-year-old Marcos Badell. He had never attended an evangelical gathering before. He saw something about the Festival on Instagram and came with his girlfriend. He responded during the Gospel invitation, and through tears, he said he was deeply moved by the message of Christ’s love for him. Badell said, “I’m an atheist—well, I was an atheist—and I see that despite that, He has sought me out. That’s what impacts me the most.”
Nearly 900 evangelical churches representing 15 denominations throughout Madrid and the surrounding area partnered with Franklin Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association for the Festival of Hope. These churches invited unbelievers, filling nearly 200 buses with people who needed to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.
“I was so happy to watch people respond to the Gospel and see what the Lord is doing in many lives,” said Manuel Cerezo, who pastors one of the churches in Madrid that will help new believers, such as Badell, grow in their faith. “We feel that the Lord is moving. He is doing something that we have never seen before in Madrid.”
But Pastor Cerezo said this hasn’t come without opposition. “We are facing a strong movement against the evangelical churches in the media. It has been like a hurricane and we feel their attacks.” Pastor Cerezo continued saying, “The first Christians fled from Spain because of the Inquisition 500 years ago—we have a history of persecution. We know that this is another moment. It is no longer a Religious Inquisition but a Media Inquisition. They mistreat us like we are a sect or a cult and not as another religion. But God says in the Bible that you are blessed when people speak against you on the account of Jesus Christ, so we are blessed.”
Evangelical Christians are a small minority of the population in Spain, where roughly 2 percent of the country is evangelical—most people are either Catholic or not religious.
In the days leading up to the Festival of Hope, Franklin Graham was interviewed by several national newspapers and television networks, which all asked him why the evangelical church was growing in Spain, which is predominately known for its Catholic identity.
Graham told the journalists, “People want to hear what God has to say and evangelical churches preach from the Bible. Churches that stand on the Word of God and preach the truth of Scripture aren’t dead—they’re alive! Religion can’t save you. The church can’t save you. Only the blood of Jesus Christ has the power to save us from our sins, and that’s the Good News that evangelical churches proclaim and the message that I am sharing with the people of Madrid.”
The Festival of Hope was free and all were invited to attend. The two-night event featured live music from award-winning American musicians Michael W. Smith and Charity Gayle, as well as Sing It—a Gospel choir in Madrid—and Coro Gospel Living Water.
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Download photos and video: https://media.billygraham.org/festival-of-hope-madrid-press-resources/.
Media Contact: To request an interview or more information, contact Mark Barber at mebarber@bgea.org.
About Franklin Graham
Founded by Billy Graham in 1950, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association shares the Good News of Jesus Christ around the world. Franklin Graham held his first evangelistic event in 1989, and since then, he has preached at more than 345 outreaches in 55 countries.
Most recently, Rev. Graham has proclaimed the hope of Jesus Christ in Minsk, Belarus; Lima, Peru; Ushuaia, Argentina; Siem Reap, Cambodia; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Brussels, Belgium; London, England; and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Rev. Graham is looking forward to sharing the Gospel in Manchester, England, and Santiago, Chile, in the coming months. Graham has a heart for Europe where he has preached at 34 events in 19 countries over the past 25 years. Last year, Graham also convened the European Congress on Evangelism, which brought more than 1,000 Christian leaders from 55 countries in Europe to Berlin, Germany.
In addition to serving as president and CEO of BGEA, Franklin Graham also leads Samaritan’s Purse, which works in more than 100 countries. The international Christian relief and evangelism organization responded to the deadly flooding in Valencia, Spain, in 2024 through its partner Decision, by distributing food, pressure washers, cleaning equipment, shovels, boots, and other supplies, as well as supporting local church partners to meet the needs of suffering people.
Samaritan’s Purse is also responding to the war in Ukraine, where the ministry has helped more than 14.5 million people by providing 131,000 metric tons of food as well as nearly 1,000 tonnes of emergency relief supplies on 43 airlifts. Samaritan’s Purse also operated five field hospitals and five medical clinics in the war-torn country, treating tens of thousands of patients. While he was in Berlin for the European Congress on Evangelism, Rev. Graham met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to pray for peace.