“We went without expecting anything, and we came back with the greatest gift we could have received,” Sergi told EWTN News.
Sergi, a young Catalan man, was surprised by an encounter with Pope Leo XIV in Spain on June 10 he will never forget.
During the pope’s visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Montserrat, an abbey northwest of Barcelona, Sergi handed Leo his rosary. The pontiff slipped it into his pocket before using it minutes later to pray.
Unexpectedly, the story did not end there — after the event, Sergi managed to recover his prized sacramental, now prayed with by the pope.
Sergi (who asked that his last name not be shared) told EWTN News he had not planned to go to the shrine on the day of the papal visit. He is from Terrassa, a city between Barcelona and Montserrat.
The invitation to go to the popeʼs prayer came unexpectedly through a volunteer with the Missionaries of Charity, connected to his youth group, who encouraged both him and his girlfriend, María, to join the gathering. The night before, they attended the pope’s event at the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona and returned so tired that they almost decided not to go again.
However, they felt they could not miss the chance to see Pope Leo during his visit to their homeland, and in order to attend they both had to take the day off from work. They never imagined what would happen or the gift they would receive.
Sergi, María, and their friend secured a spot in the atrium of the basilica, and when the pope arrived, Sergi managed to get very close to the mini-popemobile as it passed by. At that moment he took out his rosary, hoping it would be blessed.
“I just wanted him to bless it, that’s all, but he asked me, ‘Is it for me?’ And I’m not going to say no, so of course I said yes, and he kept it,” the young man said.
Indeed, in a video recorded by EWTN News, the pope can be seen taking the rosary and putting it in his pocket. A few minutes later, to the young couple’s total surprise, they saw the pope praying with Sergi’s rosary in his hands.
“When we saw it on the screen, we realized it was the same one he was using to pray!” Sergi said. Pope Leo XIV prays with a simple, wooden rosary during a prayer at the Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat, northwest of Barcelona, Spain, on June 10, 2026. The rosary belongs to Sergi, a young Catalan man who gave it to the pope to be blessed. | Credit: Vatican Media
But the story did not end there. María had the idea of trying to get the rosary back, and when the event ended, they tried. However, the pope was already in the official car, and the security caravan would not allow anyone to approach.
“We tried to tell him, but he just passed us by,” Sergi told EWTN News.
At that moment, the run of his life began. Montserrat, as its name suggests, is set on a mountain range, so he had to run downhill.
“I ran the whole way down until I said, ‘Well, let the pope keep it,’ and I gave up, but my girlfriend told me, ‘Keep trying.’”
So Sergi started running again, sprinting and shouting to the pope to give it back. Knowing the caravan could not stop, he took an extreme measure: asking the pope to throw it to him.
“At that moment I wasn’t thinking — I just knew I wanted to get the rosary back, knowing the pope had prayed with it. I was overwhelmed with excitement by the moment and the situation.”
The pope granted his request, tossing the rosary from the car window as he drove by. Then, with the help of a police officer, Sergi recovered his rosary, now prayed with by the pope.
“We went without expecting anything, and we came back with the greatest gift we could have received,” the young man said, still moved by the experience.
Juan Andrés Muñoz Fernández, contributed to this story first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
