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Leo XIV receives in Rome an image of the Mother of Hakuna, ‘close, simple, humble’
Pope Leo XIV received an image of the Mother of Hakuna, highlighting Mary's humility, simplicity, and motherhood, during the Jubilee in Rome.
Close, simple, humble. This is how the image of the Mother of Hakuna received by Pope Leo XIV in Rome last August during the Jubilee is defined, according to the religious movement. A gift with which Hakuna not only intends to remember Mary in the month of May, but also to invite people “to truly look at her.” “Not as a distant figure or altar image, but as what she is, our mother,” they explain.
On the occasion of the presentation of a sculpture to Leo XIV, Hakuna explained that the image is not intended to be a monument, but “a small portrait of Mary that tries to capture what she is: close, simple, humble. On her knees, with her hands on her womb, in silence. A young woman who tenderly holds what she carries inside.”
In this sense, they also mention that the sculpture made by María Elisa Rivera is also meant to be “a vehicle and not an end. An object that helps to remember: Mary, who is the mother of all; and our own, who also deserves that moment of pause and gratitude that the Church invites us to have this month.”
The movement defines the meaning and significance of the Mother of Hakuna as a composition that can be read through three realities that the image seeks to make visible.
• Humility — expressed in the kneeling posture. Hakuna learns from Mary to live kneeling before the Eucharist. The knee is not defeat: it is the freest posture that exists, that of someone who decides there is someone greater.
• Simplicity — expressed in the form. Without a crown, all simplicity, with a peasant’s scarf gathering her hair. The entire sculpture redirects towards Christ: not towards Mary’s face, but towards the center, the embrace, the womb where He lives. It is an expression of the simplicity of the Christian life.
• Maternity — expressed in the embrace. Mary is pregnant because she carries Christ within. She is the first tabernacle in history: the place where the Word first dwelt among men. The Eucharist that Hakuna adores in Holy Hours, and that, ultimately, all Catholics adore, is the same presence that she carried within.
Below, you can watch the video of the creation process of the image, which can be obtained from the Hakuna shop through their portal:
