Pablo Moreno, film director, "... in the end he found me," 2016.
When I accepted making the film on Poveda, I had a different idea about who Pedro Poveda was. I knew he was a complex, multidimensional character with many possibilities; but as I got deeper into the story and as I discovered the character, I realized that I was quite short in all my ideas.
Juan Bermúdez Heredia (Juanico), a child and cave-dweller at the time Pedro Poveda was in Guadix. Testimony collected in 1982 when he was 80.
"The one in the picture in front of his legs, (referring to this photo) that's me.
Ana Mª López Díaz-Otazu, collaborator of Pedro Poveda, Experience of God and prophecy in Pedro Poveda, 1993.
"The Eucharist was the center of his life. He celebrated it with awe and reverence, evoking the Last Supper and Calvary.
Carlos Osoro, Archbishop of Madrid. My friendship with Poveda, 1994.
"Speaking of God has never been easy, even though it is always necessary. And speaking about man, that is, in reference to a God who moves foundations is riskier because we can turn our back as the young man of the Gospel did.
Flavia Paz Velázquez, biographer of Pedro Poveda, 1986.
"We are not before a man who is dazzling, but before a ‘compelling spirit,’ exquisitely polite, while being natural and plain. An unhurried man, capable of taking an interest in everything that is ours and give each thing its relevance.
Paul Grieger, Professor at the Lateran University, speech given in Barcelona, 1974.
"Today's man is not threatened by the ‘lack of knowledge’ but by the ‘lack of awareness.’ One needs to communicate and live with people who" have" the truth that liberates.
Paul Poupard, Rector of the Catholic Institute of Paris in 1974, on the centenary of the birth of Pedro Poveda.
"Our humanism becomes Christianity, our Christianity becomes centered on God; in such sort that we may say, to put it differently: a knowledge of man is a prerequisite for a knowledge of God. (Paul VI).
Cardinal Eduardo Francisco Pironio, President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, 1993.
"He modeled his priesthood in the configuration with Christ crucified and in loving contemplation of Our Lady of Sorrows.
St. John Paul II
"St. Pedro Poveda, grasping the importance of the role of education in society, undertook an important humanitarian and educational task among the marginalized and the needy. He was a master of prayer, a teacher of the Christian life
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Former student of the Academy of Ávila
"For us he was not the Founder, full of business and work, of whom we would afraid to steal his precious time; rather, he was a father who was interested in our issues as if they were his; he advised us with affection, he used to go out of his way for our good and he was very generous in his consolations in our misfortune.
Enrique Herrera Oria, S.J.
"I met him for the first time on the occasion of the founding of F.A.E. Since then I had very close contact with Fr. Poveda. Pious, simple, humble, with a deep knowledge of Spanish education problems, great zeal and tact in taking action.
Norberto Alcover, journalist and professor at the University of Comillas, 2003.
"Pedro Poveda became part of my life in an unavoidable manner, in a way that, being myself very Ignatian, I discovered in this man from Linares, Guadix and Madrid the most accomplished benchmark of the evangelical ‘being in the world without being the world,’ understanding the mundane as dominant selfishness.
José Manuel Sánchez Caro, Rector of the Pontifical University of Salamanca, 1993.
"Salt and light that always come together in the works of Poveda as harmony between knowledge and faith. For him, those women who for the first time came close to the University, who would open to Education and other disciplines, should cultivate knowledge.