The papal audience with members of the Brotherhood of the Virgin Mary of Montserrat, Spain, was a significant event that reaffirmed Pope Francis’ commitment to popular piety and Marian devotion.
In his address, Pope Francis emphasised the importance of the Virgin Mary as the mother of all people. He said Mary is a figure who invites us to fraternity, social friendship, and universal communion.
The Pope also spoke of the evangelizing power of popular piety. Popular piety, he said, is an important way of expressing faith and coming into contact with God.
The papal audience was an important moment for the members of the Brotherhood of the Virgin Mary of Montserrat, Spain. It allowed them to express their faith and devotion to the Virgin Mary.
We reproduce below the speech that the Pope addressed to those present during the Audience to the members of the Brotherhood of the Mother of God of Montserrat (Spain), on the occasion of the 800th anniversary of its foundation.
Speech by the Holy Father
Bon dia a tots!
Welcome. I cordially greet Cardinal Omella, Father Abbot of Montserrat Manel Gasch, the other bishops, priests, religious present, and all the faithful participating in this pilgrimage. Thank you, thank you for this visit. I am happy to welcome you and to see you on this day when we celebrate our heavenly Mother under the title of Our Lady of the Rosary. To celebrate Mary is to celebrate the closeness and tenderness of God who meets his people, who does not leave us alone, who has given us a Mother who cares for us and accompanies us. It is to celebrate God’s closeness because God’s style is closeness, compassion and tenderness. This is how God loves, and seeing Mary, one understands God’s closeness, God’s compassion in a Mother and God’s tenderness.
You came as pilgrims to Rome to celebrate, to thank the Lord for the presence of Mary who has been so close to you for 800 years and who has accompanied you on the path of Christian life. Let us now evoke her image: the Virgin of Montserrat, the beloved “Moreneta”, is seated and holds the Child on her lap, she is the “Mare de Déu”, and in her right hand she holds a sphere symbolising the universe, she is the “Queen and Mistress of all creation”.
Keeping in mind this double vocation of Mary to be the mother of God and our mother helps us to reflect on the theme chosen for this pilgrimage: “Popular piety, social friendship and universal confraternity”. We know that Marian devotion means a great deal in the manifestations of piety of God’s holy and faithful people. It is the Mother. Just think, in these 800 years of presence in Montserrat, how many faithful have visited her sanctuary, unravelling the beads of the rosary, humbly and simply asking the Moreneta for her intercession for them, for their loved ones! And how many, how many manifestations of filial affection, of supplications and thanksgiving! When the People of God go to visit their Mother, they express themselves, they express themselves in a way that perhaps they do not do so much in other types of prayer. In front of the Mother, the noblest feelings of a person are awakened. And when Mary hears our prayers, she makes this gesture, which is the most Marian gesture. She points to Jesus: “Do whatever he tells you”. It is the typically Marian gesture. She points the way and speaks to her Son so that he understands.
The evangelising power of popular piety creates favourable conditions for the bonds of friendship and fraternity between peoples to grow and become stronger (cf. Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium nn. 122-126). St. Paul VI had already understood this and changed the name from “popular religiosity” to “popular piety”. And in his Evangelii Nuntiandi he has very clear paragraphs on this grace – it is a grace that people have – of popular piety.
And in this aspect too, Marian devotion has a privileged place. Mary is an advocate, but today the word “advocate” is too functional, it is better to say “facilitator”. Mary is a facilitator in conflicts and problems, as in the lack of wine at weddings.
She helps us to “untie the knots” that have been tied in us and between us. In other words, Mary also paves the way for friendship between peoples, inviting us to turn our gaze to the origin and goal of our existence, which is Jesus Christ, and encourages us to follow his example, walking the paths of peace, kindness, listening and patient and trusting dialogue.
Brothers and sisters, Our Lady of Montserrat, with the world in her hands, invites us to live that universal fraternity, without frontiers, without exclusions, which dispels the shadows of a closed environment. She “is attentive not only to Jesus but also “to the rest of his descendants” (Rev 12:17). With the power of the Risen One, she wants to give birth to a new world, where all are brothers and sisters, where there is room for every discarded person in our cities, where justice and peace shine forth” (Encyclical Letter Fratelli tutti, n. 278). For her there is no discarding, she is the Mother of the discarded, of those we discard because she goes there to look for them. She does not know how to discard anyone. And because she is Mother, she knows how to listen to so many things, so many requests, even when they come from a double heart, from a heart that is not coherent with itself, an unjust heart that does harm. She listens, she listens to the criminal son too.
It is beautiful to reflect on these themes and to be able to experience together the joy of proclaiming Christ by the hand of Mary, Mother of the living Gospel, Star of evangelisation. I encourage you to go forward in this mission, which is a gift and a task. May Jesus bless you, may Our Lady take care of you – she is a good caregiver, she knows how to take care – and may she help you to continue walking together. And, while I am at it, I ask you not to forget to pray for me. Thank you.
