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Fr. Manuel Morales, OSA, shares how he is preparing for Pope Leo XIV’s visit

Not all Augustinians will be able to attend in person the events organized for Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Spain. From the Tomás Cámara Special Care Residence (RAE) in Madrid, currently home to thirteen Augustinian religious with special medical needs, Fr. Manuel Morales explains how he is living the wait and how he will follow the most important moments.

Now almost 90, Fr. Morales has lived his vocation as an Augustinian religious in different places and with different responsibilities. Many Augustinians knew him as master of the professed in the community of Los Negrales (1969-1973), when the house of formation was in that town in the mountains outside Madrid. He also supported the Augustinians in Portugal in the parishes the Order of Saint Augustine serves in the neighboring country (1987-1995). For a time he lived in Rome to work with the Focolare Movement (1981-1997 and 1995-2001). He was later assigned to Brazil (2001-2005), where he also worked in a parish. For the last eighteen years, before moving to the RAE in Madrid, he lived in the community of the Parish of Saint Augustine in Cádiz, where he promoted the Mothers of Monica Groups.

Fr. Morales is the author of several publications precisely on this apostolate based on small praying communities. His gift for writing has made him a key figure in every play or celebration prepared at the residence for special occasions such as Christmas or the Conversion of Saint Augustine.

The Augustinian religious remembers clearly when he met Pope Leo XIV, then Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine, during one of his visits to the Augustinian communities. In particular, he speaks of the closeness and humanity he showed at that time by going to visit a sick religious sister.

Looking ahead to Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Spain, Fr. Morales expresses his joy, says he is impressed by how everything is being prepared and shares his eagerness to hear what the Augustinian Pope has to say to the Church in Spain.

You can listen to his testimony on “Los Agustinos a tu Lado”.

More testimonies

Fr. Antonio Iturbe, OSA: being Robert Prevost’s formator Armando J. Lovera on Pope Leo XIV: “A shepherd who builds community through friendship” Father Miguel Ángel Martín Juárez on Pope Leo XIV: “He is approachable, simple and deeply human”

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