The Catalan matrix of the spirituality of Saint Ignatius de Loyola. The Black Pope at the presentation of the film “The Ignatian Way”

In recent days, the Generalitat de Catalunya presented, first at the Vatican Film Library in Palazzo San Carlo and then at the Casa del Cinema in Villa Borghese, the documentary “The Ignatian Way” by the Catalan director Jordi Roigé. The delegate in Italy of the Government of Catalonia, Luca Bellizzi, the director of the Office of the Ignatian Way, Father Josep Lluís Iriberri, a Jesuit, and the director himself took part.

The film allows you to experience, from the perspective of a pilgrim, the visual and spiritual beauty of the journey made by Ignatius of Loyola from Azpeitia to Manresa in 1522. This year marks the 500th anniversary of this anniversary which Manresa celebrates with a series of activities .

“Transmitting the experience of walking the Ignatian Way was our goal,” explained director Jordi Roigé. “The pilgrims, the context and the beauty of the landscape have made our lives easier, now we hope that many people will be moved by wanting to get to know this marvel in person,” he said.

Through the experiences of four pilgrims and a guide, the documentary images invite you to enjoy the architecture, monuments, landscapes, fauna and flora, gastronomy, culture and people of the spaces that make up the Ignatian Way.

In this 650km pilgrimage, pilgrims cross the Basque Country, La Rioja, Navarre, Aragon and Catalonia, meeting and interacting with people, savoring the typical foods of the local cuisine or contemplating the monuments and scenic beauty that surrounds them.

Mbassa Niang, Iñigo Medinilla, Iñaki Sánchez and Marta Burguet are the pilgrims of the documentary, people from different cultures, regions and religions. The group’s leader is the Jesuit Josep Lluís Iriberri, director of the Pilgrim Office of the Ignatian Way, who has been accompanying pilgrims from all over the world for years.

The documentary is produced by Animaset and has the collaboration of the Jesuits, the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Patronat de Turisme of the Diputació de Lleida, the Turisme de La Rioja and the Ajuntament de Manresa.

In his speech, Bellizzi underlined that the 500th anniversary of the
conversion of Ignatius of Loyola in Manresa is “a unique opportunity to promote the
Cammino Ignaziano” and underlined his own compared to other similar itineraries
“peculiar identity and personality”, linked to both the spiritual and tourist aspects,
naturalistic, artistic, historical and food and wine. He added that “Catalonia is
always been a welcoming land” and reiterated his vocation to “build bridges” pur
maintaining its “well-defined” identity. For this he motivated the interest of
Generalitat to promote the Ignatian Way. In conclusion, taking up a
concept expressed the day before by Father Sosa regarding the pilgrimage, ha
highlighted how the journey presented in the documentary is as much exterior as
inner.

Josep Lluís Iriberri, director of the Pilgrim Office of the Ignatian Way,
stated that “the experience lived by Ignatius of Loyola in the 16th century is still valid
today in the 21st century and can help anyone to rediscover a different path, a
different orientation”. “This is what we will discover, an inner path, a
external path, landscapes and experiences” he reiterated.
For his part, the director of the documentary Jordi Roigé, explained that it is a
“artisanal” product, made “with the hands and the technique but also with the heart… and with the
feet!”. He added that the footage was recorded with a staff of 11,
including the four pilgrims and Father Iriberri, who led the pilgrimage, fifteen
days. “It’s a very sincere film,” she concluded. It should be noted that among the four pilgrims
there is a Senegalese girl of Muslim religion, demonstrating that the Way is
truly open to anyone.

The route starts from Azpeitia, the birthplace of Iñigo de Loyola, in the Basque Country
(Euskadi) and through La Rioja, Navarra and Aragon reaches Catalonia with the
final stages of Montserrat and Manresa.
Among the hundreds of spectators present at the screening were also the director general
of Religious Affairs of the Generalitat, Yvonne Griley, the cultural attaché of the embassy of
Spain in Italy, Carlos Tercero, several Jesuits and members of religious congregations,
professionals from the world of cinema and journalists.
The documentary, directed by Jordi Roigé and produced by Animaset, recalls the figure of St.
Ignatius of Loyola on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of his conversion and will be in theaters in
Spain from July 22nd. It is subtitled in several languages, including Italian. At the
the Society of Jesus, the Generalitat of Catalonia,
the Tourism Board of the Province of Lleida, Tourism of La Rioja and the City of
Manresa.

In the photo: the presentation at the Vatican Film Library was attended, among others, by the Minister of Justice of the Catalan Government, Lourdes Ciuró, the Minister of Foreign Action, Victoria Alsina, the mayor of Manresa, Marc Aloy and the superior general of the Jesuits, Father Arturo Sosa who highlighted the role of the pilgrim. “We talked about the road, I want to talk about the pilgrim”, said the black Pope explaining that the pilgrim must follow the signs and let themselves be accompanied because “accompaniment is absolutely necessary, letting oneself be guided, recognizing that if one lets oneself be guided it is better ”.

The Catalan matrix of the spirituality of Saint Ignatius de Loyola. The Black Pope at the presentation of the film “The Ignatian Way” – FarodiRoma