Pope Leo XIV entrusted his pontificate and the Church’s mission to Our Lady of Montserrat, the beloved Black Madonna known to Catalans as La Moreneta. Source: OSV News.
“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 670 metres above sea level and about 50 kilometres 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.
“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 recognised by Pope Leo XIII in 1881.
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 St 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.
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Pope Leo XIV entrusts his ministry to Our Lady of Montserrat (By Courtney Mares, OSV News)
