Spain, The Pope, and two random Kiwis

The splendid interior of
Gaudí's Sagrada Familia

The big news, if you haven´t heard it already, is that Dom Light and Vincent Phua met Pope Benedict XVI yesterday. Dom, representing the youth of Oceania, was walking behind the Popemobile as the Holy Father entered Plaza Cibeles, and was lucky to meet him beforehand. Vincent was one of five youths on the stage representing the five continents and presented the Holy Father with a gift, before sharing a short conversation with the leader of the Catholic Church. It was an amazing sight to witness and one that made all Kiwis proud of our lads!!

At Nou Camp in Barcelona

Getting back to our travels, we saw the famous basilica of the Sagrada Familia (Holy Family) in Barcelona, which was the architect Antoni Gaudi’s (now blessed) magnum opus - which was to build a basilica that brought the church oustside to the people. It was consecrated by the Holy Father last November and could be said to be Barcelona's pride and joy. It is still unfinished, and has been under construction since 1884. It is a beautiful church, but holds a different aura to St Peter’s. The church is modern, full of catechesis and doctrinal input, and utilizes natural-themed architecture, for example the pillars are fashioned as trees.

Then we visited Barcelona’s other shrine, the Barcalona football team’s home stadium, Camp Nou.

On Saturday after picking up the our van, we drove three hours to the Marian Shrine of Torreciudad up in the north of Spain, in the foothills of the Pyrenees. The shrine itself is modern, completed and inaugurated during a requiem mass for St Josemaria Escriva in 1975, but there has been a shrine to Our Lady of Torreciudad on the site there for almost 1000 years, and hopefully for years to come. Our accommodation whilst staying at the shrine is at a little village of holiday homes, El Tozal. We were very well treated especially by the main family of the village, the Pich’s, who have 16 children!! The biggest family in Spain! Despite their size, they found room for us and gave us almost a whole apartment block to stay in with our first proper beds the whole trip!!

While Vince and Dom were rehearsing for their role
with the Holy Father, the rest of us escaped to
Avila to see the convent of St Teresa of Avila
and the iconic Murallas, or walls.

Sunday followed as an eventful day starting off with a cool swim in the pool of El Poblado, a small conference centre, which gave a much needed break from the Spanish sun. After cooling off we toured the shrine of Our Lady of Torreciudad also exploring the vast collection of statues of Our Lady from around the world (still yet to contain NZ's Our Lady of the Assumption though!). Mass was hosted afterwards, led by Father Joe, our group’s chaplain who was celebrating his 25th anniversary of ordination. The reception held afterwards was also very intriguing with a delicious sea food Spanish paella, with souvenir-edition rosary beads done by Fr Joe's sister and our host, Rosa, an amazingly energetic woman.

We then toured Lourdes for the feast of the Assumption on the 15th. It was great to see so many people with such devotion greeting Our Lady, filling up from the spring and lining up to touch and venerate the spot where Our Lady appeared to St Bernadette.

With thte Basilica of St Pius X
and the grotto of Lourdes
in the background

We then arrived in San Sebastian for the first day of their summer party season - some impressive fireworks topped off a great visit to a pictureque city, where we were hosted at Club Txindoki. Alfonso and Oscar, two Spanish friends, showed us around and made us feel at home in the Basque country. We also collected a stray Aussie and former Glenrowan resident John Watson who is part of our group.

With our great hosts Luci and Angel Aguiar

We are now in Madrid, after being hosted in Miraflores de la Sierra by another wonderful family - the Aguiar family. They offered us affectionate Spanish hospitality, super meals and again, comfy beds in their quaint country villa. Since Vince and Dom's experience yesterday, we can't really top that, so we are just hoping for a safe and happy last few days in Madrid.

Matt, Baron and James hang out for the Pope

The streets are full of pilgrims, with flags and chants and a wonderful atmosphere. Many of the chants include well-wishes to the Pope: Esta es el juventud del Papa - This is the youth of the Pope. It's great to see so much affection for who St Catherine of Siena called 'the sweet Christ on earth'.

Vincent practising on stage before the arrival of the Holy Father

Vincent with the other representatives of the five continents

Until next time, adios amigos!!