The Santiago Bernabeu is as lively as during football matches. Maybe even more. Long live the Pope and a long, repeated applause from the stands where over 80 thousand sit accompanies the Pontiff’s entry into the Madrid stadium. «Today the Church of Madrid scored a goal for good», underlines Prevost.
For the last night in the city before leaving for Barcelona, Leo XIV chose to meet the entire diocese, actually three in one because that of Madrid also includes the dioceses of Alcalá de Henares and that of Getafe.
THECardinal José Cobo Cano assures him that the many voices he hears – the different testimonies of lay people, with Susana Arregui, of a father with two disabled children, Jesús Moure, of priests, like Fausto Calvo, of a migrant family, that of Jorge Barco and Liliana Torres who arrive from Peru, of Álvaro, a young adult who has just received the sacraments of Christian initiation – want to sing together. To be, with a synodal voice, «a new song in the midst of our dioceses, a presence that does not impose itself but that attracts; who does not need to raise his voice but who reaches the heart of those who wish to listen.” Perhaps thus, the cardinal reiterates, «in our ecclesiastical province, someone will be able to recognize, without needing too many explanations on our part, that that song does not arise only from us, but from Godand that in it dwells a hope that is worth listening to.”
A voice to which the Pope wants to add his. «Singing is a need that crosses coexistence and challenges culture, provoking it to remain open and constantly evolving», says the Pontiff. He speaks of a people who “love music, dance and being together”, but who also know “conflicts, resignation, sometimes desperation, situations that the Gospel can open to hope”.
Invite believers to testify to the Gospel «in the capital of a large European countryhome to institutions and organizations where important decisions are made for the present and future, but also a destination for millions of visitors and brothers and sisters looking for new opportunities.”
He asks that joy be real and contagious, not the emotion of a moment, and that it bring love to all. «Even today», he explains, «the love of Christ pushes us – the verb that Saint Paul uses, synèchei, also means “it captivates us”, “keeps us united”, “possesses us” – and thus calls us to the responsibility of action». It is Baptism that “really changes lives”, because grace transforms what was already inside each of us. In Christ we find the unity that is never uniformity, combining the different voices in a “communion in diversity”. Christ restores “the understanding that disappeared in Babel, where everyone, according to the biblical story, forced into a totalitarian and only human project, ended up no longer understanding their neighbors”. Nehemiah’s project which “involves the entire community in the reconstruction of Jerusalem” should be preferred to Babel, as he explained in the encyclical Magnifica humanitas. Today, rebuilding means «recognizing that, in the plurality of voices and visions which sometimes recalls the dispersion of languages, there is nevertheless a bright possibility: that of building togethertransforming diversity into a resource and making listening and dialogue the common ground on which justice and brotherhood can grow.” In this shared work, the form of construction that Christians give is “to orient action towards God, so that in his light pluralism is not dispersed in disorder, but, in the practice of synodality, becomes the space in which humanity rediscovers its solid foundations and its ultimate goal”.
There is a special relationship between Church and city. A relationship that takes place «between people of flesh and blood, in work and proximity relationships, but no less in the different communities, associations, neighborhood realities” and the Christian mission has its own specificity. The question, also developed through the synodal path, is how to bring what we are and what we do as Christians to the places where “new stories and paradigms are formed”, or to the “deepest cores of the soul of cities”. The answer is difficult, but not impossible if we seek the truth together. For this reason we must not remain closed in groups where we feel safe. «To get to the heart of the city we need to cultivate the awareness that the truth is symphonic and always surpasses us», says Leone, «cultivate the desire to find the Risen One who is always ahead of us, precedes us and perhaps is already present where we have not yet looked for him. Seeking him and following him is in fact a condition for indicating him: otherwise there is no evangelization.” We need to redesign new maps so as not to make the announcement of the Gospel something impersonal and repetitive. We must be able to share “the Grace we have received” with everyone because «everyone, without exception, is made for life and life to the full. The presence of the Church in a large city is a parable of this mystery of salvation.” Talk about the book of the prophet Jonah and remember that it was your own in cities That the Apostles – finding rejection, but also acceptance – established the nascent ChurchAnd.
For this reason he invites the diocesan Church to offer a evangelical testimony capable of freeing “the best energies of a humanity bombarded with images and words, but hungry for justice and thirsty for truth”. He asks us to have faith «in the increasingly evident fact that we can return to faith or experience it for the first time in adulthood. Be prepared to welcome new beginnings not as an exception, but as a rule of the mission.” AND on parish and diocesan councils he insists on the objective of «modifying everyone’s sensitivity thanks to a deeper listening to what the Spirit says to the Church. It’s a shame to reduce them to bureaucratic obligations. They are places of mutual listening for the exercise of discernment, without which not only does everyone go their own way, but we risk not understanding where the Lord wants us, what awaits us, what conversions he calls us to.” When we listen to each other, however, “worship becomes life and bonds of brotherhood and solidarity projects arise among people.”
He asks the priests, without deviating from the essentials, to regularly stop with the people “to interpret the life of the neighborhoods, the cultural changes, the social tensions, the ecclesial practices in the light of the Gospel”. Practice that «will enrich and console your ministry. It will also help each individual and community emerge from isolation and experience the joy of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit, in fact, that we lack when we reduce ecclesial life to a routine in which everyone remains closed in their habits and their role”. The Spirit, however, «arouses vocations and brings them together into unity, sometimes provoking turmoil, discussion, and the search for further balance. Don’t be scared of all this: enjoy it! The stories we heard this evening say, or rather “sing”, how much life there is in this Church”. Highlight the testimony of someone who said “I can say without hesitation that I deeply love the Church, the family of God, where we all have a place,” or “I have felt great joy and responsibility in becoming a more active member of the community and in sharing my gifts with the rest of the members of the Church.” And again, the Pope summarizes: «For us, serving is not only a way to help, but also a way to return all the affection and support we have received». This is the Church. «Here is the music of the Gospel, with its engaging rhythm», he concludes. «When it reaches the heart, it makes people say, like their sister who arrived in Madrid from Peru, that they feel welcomed with open arms. Many, like her and her family, feel an initial fear of approaching her, they have heard of prejudices and disappointments. Goodness, even of a few, can overcome the fear of many. Be, for everyone, like an open Bible: may the Word of God be encountered on your faces and in your life. Love, in fact, is the language that makes everyone feel at home».
