Andalusian representatives have private audience with Pope as part of 2025 Jubilee

Antonio M. Romero

Málaga

Friday, 24 January 2025, 13:23

Pope Francis has praised Malaga and Seville for their joint participation in the procession to be held in Rome on 17 May as part of the 2025 Jubilee. The procession will feature the images of the Virgen de la Esperanza from Malaga and Cristo de la Expiración (Cachorro) from Seville.

This is what the pontiff said during the private audience that he held for twenty minutes on Wednesday 22 January with representatives of the institutions and entities that are sponsoring the procession, according to sources consulted. The meeting was attended by the Andalusian spokesperson for economy and finance, Carolina España, the mayor of Malaga, Francisco de la Torre, the president of the provincial authority, the Diputación de Málaga, Francisco Salado, director general of the Unicaja foundation, Sergio Corral, and Gloria Ruiz from the Cajasol foundation.

The rest of the members of the Andalusian delegation to Rome were present at Wednesday's general audience in the Paul VI Hall, including the councillor for culture, Patricia del Pozo, the elder brother of the Archicofradía del Paso y la Esperanza de Málaga, Sergio Morales, the president of the city's Agrupación de Cofradías de Semana Santa, José Carlos Garín, accompanied by the third vice-president, Francisco Cidfuentes, the coordinator of the Grand Procession, among others.

At the end of the meeting, the pontiff greeted them and Saborido showed him an album with photographs of the Virgen de la Esperanza and the Cristo de la Expiración. "The Pope wanted to convey the importance of popular religion in today's world and stressed the importance of the Grand Procession for its great evangelising and exciting value", said the brotherhood member.

In the private meeting, the Pope spoke of the role Andalucía is playing in the 2025 Jubilee and the work carried out by the brotherhoods, not only from an artistic point of view but also from a social one. He also addressed issues such as the family, the concern for the low birth rate in Spain and Italy and the role of women in society and in the Catholic Church, a point where he said that there are more and more women in important positions, as explained by the sources and Carolina España in statements to the press.

España told the Pope that for Andalucía it is "a source of pride and honour" that two images from the region will lead the procession through the streets of Rome. "We know the great responsibility we have, because the Virgen de la Esperanza and El Cachorro are going to represent all the brotherhoods and sisterhoods of the world," she said.

"Andalucía is going to be an international benchmark, the whole world will be watching and paying attention to our Holy Week. It is a great responsibility, an honour and a very important promotion for our land," she explained.

España, who described the meeting as "very moving and endearing", said that she had found the Pope "well" and that he had been "very affectionate, very talkative, eager to talk and very interested in Andalusian affairs and in the problems at world level, in seeing how the public administrations can adopt measures to solve them".

Likewise, in the words of España, Francisco described Andalusians as "hard-working and cheerful people" and asked that "we should never lose the good humour we have, which is very important in life".

The mayor of Malaga explained that the meeting addressed the key role of the brotherhoods in evangelisation and the importance of Holy Week in Malaga, as well as the work on the roof of the Cathedral.

In the private audience, the Pope presented the entourage with a rosary and De la Torre presented him with a figure of Malaga's La Farola de Málaga (the Malaga lighthouse), while Francisco Salado presented him with a jábega, the typical boat of the province. Carolina España gave him a book that was published on the occasion of the exhibition held in Seville of the sculptor Juan Martínez Montañés.

The elder brother of the Archicofradía del Paso y la Esperanza, Sergio Morales, presented the pontiff with a silver frame with a photo of the image of Our Lady as well as one of the handkerchiefs worn by the image.