True art doesn’t decorate, he maintains. Under this Gaudí-esque premise, the sculptor and jeweler Joan Serramià is crafting a liturgical piece in his Reus workshop that transcends Vatican protocol: the pastoral staff that the Church and people of Catalonia will present to Pope Leo XIV during his upcoming apostolic journey to Barcelona. A work conceived through the quiet efforts of word of mouth and small contributions, it will be presented to the Pontiff in the heart of the Sagrada Familia.

The object is not merely a jewel of goldsmithing, but a human and spiritual geography made tangible. Its central axis is pierced by the trunk of a thousand-year-old Catalan olive tree, yet the piece exudes a universal vocation. Noble woods from Africa, Asia, America, and Australia are assembled within it, symbolically embracing the planet’s diversity. However, its deep connection to the land lies hidden in the most intimate details: small stones gathered from the fields where Antoni Gaudí spent his childhood, amidst the wind and nature of Tarragona, are integrated into the structure.

Saint George’s intuition

The design’s genesis changed completely on a significant date. Initially, Serramià considered drawing inspiration from the tower of Saint Barnabas at the Barcelona cathedral. It was precisely on Saint George’s Day that an intuition transformed the sketch:  “I understood that the Pope would come by the tower of Jesus Christ. And then everything made sense ,” the artist confesses. From that moment was born the large Gaudí-esque cross that crowns the staff; an essential, vertical, and suspended geometry, poised to rise toward the Barcelona sky.

Serramià’s workshop, overflowing with wood shavings, silver, and sketches, connects directly to the architect’s memory. The sculptor is simultaneously working on a monument dedicated to Gaudí in Reus, for which the Sagrada Familia board and the Archdiocese of Tarragona provided a fourteen-ton rock. In this sculpture, the genius will appear working on the model of the Virgin of Mercy, a project that was denied him a century ago.  “I wanted to symbolically give him back what he wasn’t allowed to do ,” he explains, recalling that great geniuses are consumed by others, not by themselves.

A protective mantle for Europe

Beyond the presentation of the crosier during the Mass, the Gaudí community is buzzing with hope that Leo XIV will be able to visit the architect’s tomb, coinciding with the preparations for the centenary of his death. For the creator of the piece, the gesture embodies a cultural urgency in our times:  “Europe is forgetting its own destiny. Catholicism has been the great protective mantle of art. And art has protected Europe . “

When the Pope holds the crosier in his hands, he will not only be holding a tribute to Gaudí’s aesthetic. He will be holding a living heritage that refuses to be a frozen icon in history; a faith that, emulating the ancient craft of artisanry, continues to be built patiently, piece by piece, between the roots of memory and the horizon of hope.