BARCELONA – Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Barcelona will include some of the city’s famous sites. The Sagrada Familia, of course, is on his itinerary, as is the Santa Maria de Montserrat, a beautiful, picturesque monastery in the mountains, an hour’s drive from the city.
He will attend a prayer vigil in the Lluís Companys Olympic stadium in Montjuïc, and will visit a prison on his way to Our Lady of Montserrat. But amidst this hectic schedule, the pope is taking time out to visit a parish, in the El Raval district in central Barcelona, where many of the diocese’s charitable organizations will be present.
The church, San Agustin, is only a few minutes’ walk from the famous – or infamous if you’re one of the many tourists who’ve been pickpocketed there – La Rambla that snakes its way down to the glittering Mediterranean Sea. It is an old stone building in a somewhat dilapidated square, hidden away among the winding alleys and streets of El Raval.
Every day except Thursday, a group of nuns from Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity run a homeless shelter right next door which serves hundreds of people. The Sisters depend entirely on providence and volunteers, which, as with many things in the Church, somehow works. The nuns come from all over the world, as do the people that they serve.
In fact, two of those volunteers include myself and my wife, although not nearly as often as we would like. We started to go in the last couple of months at the gentle prompting of a priest. It gets us out of ourselves, puts things in perspective, and many other pious Catholic sentiments.
When we do go, we are usually accompanied by an avuncular man in his 60s named Santi Canela. Judging by his WhatsApp picture, Canela and his wife are grandparents to a football team’s worth of smiling children. On the weekends, there are two or even three shifts for 150 people to eat at a time, and as they troop into the hall set up with tables and chairs, Canela is often found in the middle of the room in a crisp, blue shirt, giving instructions.
“I’m not completely sure, but I think I’ve been doing it for more than 16 years,” he told me. “I’ve had the chance to meet many Sisters because they are reassigned to different places after a few years.”
“I believe it’s important for us to get involved in helping others in some way,” he continued. “There are a thousand ways to do it, but I chose to help the Missionaries so their support can reach more people in need.”
Canela was excited for the pope’s upcoming visit, although somewhat ambivalent about how the city in general would react. “It is a huge show of support for the social work carried out by all the groups and organizations that promote charitable work,” he said.
“I hope the impact resonates strongly and encourages other organizations and institutions with resources to contribute to those who need them most, helping improve life on the streets,” he continued. However, Canela predicted the iconic city would react “more with curiosity than with genuine devotion.”
“I don’t have verified data, but I’m completely certain: without a doubt, there are fewer and fewer practicing Catholics and, when the older generations disappear, there will be even fewer,” he explained. “You only have to walk into any church, look at the congregation, close your eyes, and imagine how many people will still be there in 10 years.”
The church is significant in the complicated history of Catalonia and Catholicism. In 1971, the Assembly of Catalonia was formed in the church, an umbrella organization made up of trade unions, cultural organizations, and more, in opposition to Franco.
The Virgin of Montserrat, after whom the monastery is named, was made the patroness of Catalonia in the 19th Century, a devotion promoted in part by Bishop Urquinaona who has a major square in the city named after him.
Today there are rumblings and debates about a potential renaming of this square, which many would see as an erasure of Barcelona’s Catholic identity. The conflicts of yesteryear still bubble in the background.
But against this complex tapestry, for those volunteering at the shelter, the most important thing is service – no matter the circumstances.
“When lockdown was imposed during the pandemic, the dining hall had to close. But people living on the streets were still hungry. The Missionaries organized themselves to prepare and distribute food bags on the street. It was madness preparing sandwiches, hot meals in containers, fruit, drinks,” Canela said.
“It was a blessing when the dining hall was finally allowed to reopen, first with a limited capacity of 100 diners to maintain distancing, and later returning to 150 again,” he concluded.
After the fanfare and excitement of the pope’s visit abates, and life goes back to normal, people like Canela and the nuns will be getting out the chairs, wiping the tables, and preparing the enormous vats of indeterminate food that are a lifeline for so many.
