The Church of Madrid celebrates with Pope Leo XIV

In a festive and fraternal atmosphere and in an incomparable setting, the Bernabéu Stadium, a very special meeting took place: the three dioceses of the Ecclesiastical Province of Madrid (Madrid, Getafe and Alcalá) welcomed Pope Leo in what was described as a celebration of diocesan life, proof that it is possible for everyone to live together while being very different.

The event, lasting more than four hours, beautifully combined testimonies, speeches and music, which reached its peak with Diana Navarro, Daniel Diges and David Bustamante’s sublime performance of the official hymn “Alza la mirada”. Before the Holy Father’s arrival, the most moving moment was the procession of Our Lady of La Almudena and the Christ of Medinaceli, the two images most dear to the people of Madrid.

Sing with one heart

Cardinal José Cobo opened the central moment, visibly moved after the singing of the official hymn, welcoming Pope Leo with a quotation from Saint Augustine’s Sermon 34: Sing to the Lord a new song… sing all together, with one heart and one voice… Sing with your voice, sing with your heart, sing with your life. Calling for diversity to be harmonized with everyone’s voices, he stressed how the Church, called to mission, needs the best tones of each of her members.

The diocesan Church is thus called to be a home where every vocation counts, where shared responsibility is not a theory but a way of life, where authority is lived as service and where mission is woven by walking together. A Church that is not afraid to start processes, that lets itself be challenged by reality and that humbly seeks how to proclaim the Good News today. None of this is done by raising one’s voice, but by tuning it, making life sound like the Gospel, without denying the night but without resigning ourselves to staying in it. And, the Cardinal concluded, united to the universal Church represented by the Pope, learning to sing together not our own song, but God’s.

Credible witnesses

Before he began to speak, the Holy Father was reminded of the words with which, on November 30, 2006, the then Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine called Augustinians to be the credible witnesses the world needs today. Twenty years later, those words still inspire Augustinians and the whole Church.

Pope Leo took up the Archbishop of Madrid’s evocative proposal to stress how our hearts need to sing, that is, to interpret events and situations, celebrating with others the meaning they radiate. A people that loves music, dance and being together, but that also knows conflict, resignation and at times despair, needs to create the polyphony of community, something we in the Augustinian family know a great deal about.

Taking up the beautiful image in the recent encyclical Magnifica humanitas, which contrasts the uniformity and confusion of Babel with the community rebuilding of the city shown in Nehemiah, he stressed that rebuilding today means recognizing that, in the plurality of voices, there is the bright possibility of building together: diversity is not a danger but an opportunity to make justice and fraternity grow through listening and dialogue.

Reaching the soul of cities

Pope Prevost spoke to us about the Church’s mission in large urban settings, marked by the great diversity of the people who live there, where different traditions and “souls” coexist. And there he raised a big question: does what we are and do as Christians reach “the deepest core of the soul of cities” (Evangelii gaudium, 74)? His answer was yes, based on a thoroughly Augustinian intuition: it is possible if we seek the truth together. That path of shared searching must avoid both dispersion and the temptation to shut ourselves up in the warm atmosphere of our own groups; we will only reach the heart of the city if we accept that truth is symphonic and goes beyond our narrow horizons. His invitation to cultivate the spiritual art of cordiality, redrawing our maps so as to move in harmony through the city where Jesus Christ is present and calls us to proclaim him, is a challenge we cannot set aside.

For a humanity bombarded with images and words, yet hungry for justice and thirsty for truth, the witness of a synodal diocesan Church is very much needed, the Pope reminded us. And this path to truly reaching the city begins with structures for listening more deeply to the voice of the Spirit. Without fear, fleeing the routines in which each person stays locked in their own habits and role, and fostering shared responsibility, we will listen to the Spirit, who raises up vocations amid bustle, discussion and dialogue.

Life and goals

At the Pope’s last mass event in Madrid, he could see that there is a great deal of life in this particular Church: life expressed in the testimonies we heard, life that must be allowed to blossom, singing the beautiful melody of the Gospel in a way that can be understood in the varied reality of the big city, so that anyone who comes to it feels neither rejected nor misunderstood, meets neither prejudice nor disappointment, but experiences the love and goodness of a Community that welcomes and accompanies. Because, indeed, love is the language that makes everyone feel at home.

In a football setting, mercy, justice and peace are the diocesan Church’s goals against worldliness. Because this team lifts up its eyes and keeps on playing.

Thank you, Holy Father Prevost, for this new witness of your ministry, which crowns your time in Madrid as a resounding call to love, joy and hope. We trust that these days of fraternal encounter with our Pope will lead all of us Christians to live lifting up our eyes.

PHOTO: © Vatican Media