Popular piety and care for those on the margins

Andrea Tornielli

Not private devotions that turn us inward into a kind of spiritual introspection, nor a museum to be visited with nostalgic memories of the Church’s past social influence, but a true school. A school that opens us to commitment, encounter, welcome, and self-giving. This is how Pope Leo described the religiosity that has shaped Spain in his homily for the Corpus Christi Mass celebrated in Plaza de Cibeles in Madrid. A religiosity expressed through processions, popular piety, art, music, and architecture.

“The Christ who processes through the streets in the monstrance,” the Pope said, “is the same Christ who identifies with the poor, the downtrodden, those who are alone and forsaken.” It is no coincidence that in Spain, the Church has long joined the solemnity of Corpus Christi with the Day of Charity. Leo XIV left Spain a clear invitation: in a country where popular religiosity remains alive, it should not become “a museum of the past to be visited, but a school of faith from which to draw even today: A school that teaches us to kneel before God and before our neighbor, because no one can kneel before the Lord and despise their brother;  A school that teaches us of the gratuitousness of love that becomes a gift, so that it may flow among us and break the chains of all selfishness;  A school from which we learn that God is a real presence and that we too are called to be present in the realities and challenges of society, not shying away, but personally committing ourselves to the building of the common good..”

These words speak directly to the lived experience of Spanish Christianity, in a strongly polarised society where division and heated controversy are frequent. The Pope first of all calls Christians to understand and live the heart of the Corpus Christi message: a God who draws near and asks us to draw near in turn, recognising him in the brother or sister who suffers, who lacks food or shelter, or who is a migrant. From this perspective, the Church’s social relevance is found in service: in responding to the needs of the poorest, in fostering reconciliation, in overcoming polarisation, in working for justice, and in building a more inclusive society.

“The Eucharistic Jesus”, the Pope said, is “that eternal spring that is hidden: a spring that flows and quenches thirst, yet without blinding, without imposing itself through outward power, without presenting itself in a spectacular way“. For this reason, the public celebration of Corpus Christi “does not enclose us in private devotion, but sends us out to refresh our brothers and sisters, our families, the poor, the suffering, and those who have lost hope.  Eucharistic grace transforms us and makes us protagonists of the transformation of history, a sign of hope for those we meet.”

Christians are also not immune to the risk of becoming trapped in polarising confrontations, sterile simplifications, and identity-based approaches that may seem to clarify everything while actually filling the world with ghosts and enemies. For this reason, it is important that the historical memory of Corpus Christi processions is not “is not confined to wistful nostalgia,” but becomes “an invitation in the present moment, in our daily lives, in our relationships, in society”. In other words, it becomes service in response to the thirst of the human heart for reconciliation and peace.