Movistar Papa2, Movistar Papa3
“You can connect to Movistar Papa2, Movistar Papa3, or Montserrat Wifi,” a journalist from Regió 7 explains to me. It's almost eleven, all the faithful who have managed to get a spot, after the paperwork, to see the Pope in Montserrat have been in their assigned place for hours. Cordoned off – if you'll allow me the strong word that has been used, all these days of red tape – by fences in different enclosures. We, the reporters, are in a press room, in the majordomo's building, with an imposing balcony overlooking the square, with the mountain in the background. Impossible to maintain atheism here.
"Graphics below, cameras have priority. Half an hour before he arrives, you won't be able to move”, says a supervisor. “I'm from German national radio. I need an audio feed,” says a young man. He himself, upon hearing a rehearsal of the Virolai, will ask me “what is the song about”. I try to explain to him the concepts of “moreneta” and “morena de la serra”, and what the hymn, with lyrics by Father Cinto, meant during Francoism.
But I've been here since the early hours. I came up by car with a worker from the monastery. We passed the Mossos' security check and took the seven-fifteen rack railway. Next to us sat a doctor from Martorell, who had already been to see Pope Francis in Rome. On a poster, next to the window, the Catalan government's greeting to the pontiff: “Hola, Papa”. I understand that they were mainly looking for a word that sounded the same in Catalan as in Spanish, in case anyone was offended, and that's why they avoided the logical “Welcome to Catalonia”. “Hola, Papa” sounds like a child's greeting when a parent arrives home.
“There are rumors that he's coming by car and leaving by helicopter,” Xesco Reverter explains in the “atmosphere” connection for Melero. Núria Bacardit is preparing to do “a live report” for 3Cat.info. “
Carlos, this is about to start“John Paul II, everyone loves you”.Before, once we arrived at the monastery, we went to queue for a coffee and, in all that time, we made friends with two Peruvian nuns, workers at the Sant Josep clinic in Vic. I invited them for drinks and they revealed to me that “generosity is returned to you multiplied”. They smiled. “Do you feel something inside, on a day like this”, the young one told me. And it was true that both of them had that relaxed look, like facial yoga, of religious women. “Too bad he’s from Madrid”, added the older one. They are Sister Gràcia and Sister Iris. “Look up!”, they told me as a farewell.
Little time left before the arrival, and a worker, with a walkie-talkie hanging around his neck, gives us a paper with the Holy Father's speech and that of the abbot of Montserrat, “embargoed”, which means we cannot publish them until they are delivered. Outside, enthusiasm already dominates the attendees, who shout: “Papa, León, molas mogollón”, a rhyme that comes to replace the other that went: “Juan Pablo, segundo, te quiere todo el mundo”. Linguistically, “Pablo” is harder to rhyme than “segundo”, and “León” is much easier than “catorce”. Fourteen, in Catalan, is very, very difficult to rhyme, because of that “How much are seven and seven?” so typical of us, which always leads us to scatology. A man with a powerful voice bellows: “Viva el Papa! Viva la Virgen!” The collective exaltation now, which has a necessary irrational touch, contrasts with the recollection of the early hours. “Yes, yes, yes!The Pope is already here!”, shout some girls from Christian schools.
”. We have just finished writing. “He has blessed many children, eh? –says a colleague–. “I think I’ll title it ‘The Babies’ Pope’”.
“Holy Virgin, ora pro nobis”, sings the Pope (A, G, A, B flat, B flat, G, F, G, A, A). And finally, the Virolai. The Pope sings, in Catalan, reading from his papers in a white folder that says “Holy Rosary”. And when the highly tuned voices of the choirboys reach “Il·lumineu la catalana terra...”, the Pope rises and begins the ascent to the image of the Virgin Mary, before whom he will pray (this time without moving his lips). Then he comes out onto the balcony. Mossos d’esquadra, national police officers, journalists, monastery staff... Everyone is recording.
“Around two, ten past two, we will all leave together to take the rack railway”, the press officer tells us, once everything is over. On the T-shirt he is wearing, black, I read: “Great things are coming”. We’ve just finished writing. “He has blessed many children, eh? –says a colleague–. “I think I’ll title it «The Pope of Babies»”.