MONTSERRAT, Spain (OSV News) -- Pope Leo XIV made a pilgrimage June 10 to the medieval mountain monastery of Montserrat, entrusting his pontificate and the Church's mission to Our Lady of Montserrat, the beloved Black Madonna known to Catalans as "La Moreneta," on his second day in Barcelona.
"I am pleased to be able to come to the feet of Our Lady of Montserrat to entrust to her, with full confidence in her maternal intercession, my Petrine ministry and the Church's mission in a world that cries out for justice and peace," the pope said after making the steep and winding ascent up to the Marian shrine perched more than 2,200 feet above sea level and roughly 30 miles northwest of Barcelona.
Pope Leo revealed a personal connection to the Marian devotion, telling those gathered inside the basilica in Catalan that his parish in Peru was named for Our Lady of Montserrat.
La Moreneta, patroness of Catalonia
"I hold a fond memory of my years as parish priest of the Parish of Santa María de Montserrat in Trujillo, Peru," the pope said.
"La Moreneta has always accompanied me. Thank you, Catalonia, for your faith."
Bells rang out from the abbey as the pope arrived, greeting the faithful from a golf cart before kissing the cross at the entrance of the Montserrat basilica and sprinkling pilgrims with holy water. He was welcomed by Abbot Manel Gasch i Hurios of the Benedictine community that has guarded the sanctuary since the monastery's founding in 1025.
The pope led pilgrims in the prayer of the rosary and sang the "Salve Regina" together with the faithful. He also spent time in private prayer before the 12th-century Romanesque wooden image of the Virgin of Montserrat, venerated for centuries as the patroness of Catalonia, a title formally recognized by Pope Leo XIII in 1881.
The boy choristers of the Escolanía de Montserrat, Europe's oldest choir school dating to the 13th century, accompanied the pope's prayer at Montserrat, as approximately 50 singers between the ages of 9 and 14 lifted their voices in the sanctuary where, the pope said, "heavenly voices" have echoed through the centuries.
Pope Leo in Montserrat: Our Lady 'moves us to deep conversion'
In his address, the pope pointed out the shrine's connection to St. Ignatius of Loyola, who spent a night in prayer before the Virgin at Montserrat before entering the priesthood, a significant turning point for the man who would go on to become the founder of the Jesuit order, the Society of Jesus.
"She moves us to deep conversion, as she did Saint Ignatius of Loyola, who in this evocative place, after a night spent in prayer before the Virgin, laid aside his knightly arms -- a moment that marked the beginning of a new life in the service of Jesus Christ," Pope Leo said.
Pope Leo noted that Our Lady of Montserrat holds the globe in her right hand, a sign of her universal maternal care, calling on the faithful to set aside whatever hardens their hearts.
"Let us lay at her feet today the armor that has gradually hardened our hearts," he said, urging those gathered to "recognize one another as brothers and sisters, so that no one is excluded and that communion is stronger than every division."
Appealing for peace, the pope asked Mary to teach the faithful to "renounce hurtful words, hasty judgment, gossip and slander," and to nurture love in families, workplaces, on social media, and in political debate.
Visiting a place very dear to Catalans
The Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat has been a place of Marian devotion for centuries.
According to tradition, the image of the Virgin was discovered in 880 by shepherd children who saw a mysterious light on the mountain; when the local bishop attempted to move the statue to Manresa, it reportedly became too heavy to transport, a sign interpreted as the Virgin's desire to remain on the mountain. Montserrat grew into a major pilgrimage destination throughout the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries and today welcomes approximately 2 million visitors annually.
Abbot Gasch i Hurios pointed out that a Benedictine of Monserrat was the first to offer Mass in the New World on Jan. 6, 1494 after accompanying Christopher Columbus on his second voyage.
The monastery's history is not without suffering. In 1811, Napoleonic troops sacked and partially destroyed the complex. During the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), 23 monks were killed and the community was forced into exile. Upon their return in 1939, Montserrat once again became a spiritual center for the Catalan people.
"The Virgin of Montserrat is, beyond being the patron saint of Barcelona, the one to whom we all direct our prayers. She is a symbol of Catalan identity and spirituality," Mercè Alonso Juan-Muns, who works for Barcelona's archdiocesan magazine, "Catalunya Cristiana," told OSV News.
"Here, we Catalans -- and all the faithful who wish to do so -- come to offer up our sufferings, our pilgrimages, and our devotions, especially in May, the Marian month, or even to ask her to help Barça win!" she said, mentioning the flagship FC Barcelona soccer club.
For Alonso, the pope's visit to Montserrat was "an exceptional gesture of closeness to the Catalans."
"Just as the Sagrada Familia has a more international impact, belonging to the whole world, Montserrat, being more remote and less well-known, is as if Pope Leo had come into the kitchen of our home -- that is, the most intimate place," she said.
Euphoric crowds outside the abbey
Thousands of pilgrims gathered outside of the Benedictine abbey from which Pope Leo greeted the crowds from a balcony. A group of school children waving flags were among the first to welcome the pope to the inner courtyard of the basilica with enthusiastic cheers.
Six-year-old Alex, and seven-year-old Pau, personally greeted Pope Leo inside the basilica, saying "Hola!" as the pope approached them and waved.
"Thank you for this beautiful manifestation of faith, all united as one single family, with this welcome from our mother Mary, the Virgin of Montserrat, (for) the joy, enthusiasm, and deep sense of faith that we are experiencing these days," Pope Leo told the crowds gathered outside from the balcony of the basilica.
"Thank you to Catalonia for having received so many people from other countries, because it teaches how to integrate everyone into a single family," the pope added. "Thank you to the community of faith, to the community of our brothers, the monks who receive and welcome all the pilgrims who come to pray to Mary, Our Lady," he said.
Prior to the Marian pilgrimage, the pope visited a local penitentiary. After the rosary, the pope shared lunch with the Benedictine community before returning to Barcelona for a meeting with diocesan charitable and assistance organizations at the Church of Sant Agustí, a Baroque landmark in the Raval district known historically as the "cathedral of the poor."
The pope's second day in Barcelona will culminate with a papal Mass inside the Sagrada Família on the centenary of the death of architect Antoni Gaudí, after which Pope Leo XIV is to inaugurate the recently completed Tower of Jesus, which made the iconic Barcelona basilica the tallest Catholic church in the world.
