Fr. Erick Vílchez is a Peruvian who knew Pope Leo XIV personally before he became pope. When he was a seminarian training to be a priest, he participated as the master of ceremonies in the episcopal ordination of the future pontiff, Robert Francis Prevost. He belongs to the territorial prelature of Chota, suffragan of the archdiocese of Piura.
“I’ve known Pope Leo XIV since he was Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo. As those who know him have said, I always saw him as a very approachable person, with a great capacity for dialogue, who knows how to listen, smiling and very humble. He has great strength. But above all, I would highlight his deep love for the Church,” he emphasizes.
But what he remembers most fondly was the day he participated as master of ceremonies during the episcopal ordination of the future Leo XIV on December 12, 2014.
Fr. Erick's first encounter with Robert Prevost left him with this memory: "The first time I spoke with Monsignor Robert, when he had just arrived in Chiclayo, I introduced myself and said, ‘Monsignor, we’re in charge of the liturgy. We’re here to serve.’ I remember that with his simplicity and a smile, he replied, 'That's good. Just so you know, I’m very obedient. So let's prepare [the liturgy] in the best way possible.' There at that time, I saw that closeness, the simplicity of Monsignor Robert, now the Holy Father," Fr. Erick said.
Visiting a prison in Chiclayo
Fr. Erick also recalls how he met Bishop Prevost in a prison in Chiclayo, where they were meeting prisoners and celebrating the sacraments.
“In conversations I had with him, he insisted that we must form ourselves with a missionary mentality, valuing the sense of mission, beginning with our own people, those closest to us,” he notes.
This Peruvian priest hopes that Pope Leo XIV, who has dual American and Peruvian nationality, will encourage many young Peruvians to consider returning to the Catholic Church, and others to understand their vocation more deeply.
“The pope is always the pope, but we’re very happy to have a Peruvian pope! I’m full of emotion!” exclaims Erick.
Fr. Christian, student of canon law in Navarre
Christian Munayco Peves is another Peruvian priest, originally from Cañete. He has just completed his degree in canon law at the University of Navarre in Spain. He belongs to the diocese of Ayacucho, in the heights of the Peruvian Andes. He studied philosophy and theology at the San Martín de Porres Major Seminary in Lima and completed his studies at the Juan XXIII Higher Institute of Theological Studies.
He received ordination to the priesthood on the feast of St. Josemaría Escrivá, on June 26, 2021. Christian recounts how he met Leo XIV:
My archbishop was twice elected president of the episcopal conference. This meant that I was constantly in contact with the Episcopal Conference to meet and discuss matters. In the corridors of the conference, I remember coming across the man who is now the Holy Father. We exchanged a cordial greeting, but nothing more. From those few encounters, I can say that he is an affable, friendly person, a man of few words, but above all extremely simple and approachable.
The missionary spirit of Leo XIV
He observes that Pope Leo XIV has been a pastor in constant communion and communication with his faithful. His time in Peru shows that it’s possible to follow and serve God outside our own lands with a missionary spirit of service, self-sacrifice, and forgetting about oneself.
He also says that his Peruvian colleagues know that the Pope knows their country very well, and they appreciate “greatly his stance of always facing truthfully” the difficult “situations and circumstances” that he has had to navigate, and how he listens regarding “issues concerning social order, charity, and justice.”
The Pope and young people
Fr. Christian comes from a deeply Catholic family that guided him on the path to his vocation. In his view, the election of a Peruvian pope will stir the conscience of young people in Peru to consider their own vocation:
Without a doubt, this election is a living and effective testimony that one can be happy in the midst of the world, serving and working in God's enterprise, saving souls.
The environment in which Pope Leo worked, both as an Augustinian religious and as a bishop, was always among young people. So since his election, they have been called to rethink with greater interest their closeness to the Church and to the parish, to reconsider that, alongside the life and professional work that each one carries out, it’s possible to be a saint, with the clear awareness that God often asks more of us because he knows more and because he wants more from those he loves.
“Do not be afraid!”
For him, the Holy Father's first words to young people on May 11 during his first Regina Coeli — "Do not be afraid! Accept the invitation of the Church and of Christ the Lord!" — refer with special affection to the words of St. John Paul II, also at the beginning of his pontificate.
"Therefore, it is still a message of hope,” Fr. Christian says, “since we cannot be afraid to experience a life that, for purely human reasons, often goes against the designs and proposals of love and forgiveness outlined by Jesus.”
“In the face of this dissonance, God counts on us to be co-redeemers, to carry with Him the cross of human logic, which often tries to diminish the value and validity of His message." He concludes, “The message, ‘Do not be afraid,’ invites us to commit ourselves to the truth, even though defending it involves suffering, exclusion, or injustice (...). It opens an enormous door to heaven,” explains Christian.
Fr. Christian explains that the papal election has been a source of great joy for all Peruvians. Indeed, “not only has it awakened overwhelming and gratifying emotions, but it has also restored our enthusiasm for the things of God and that important spiritual sense of identification and belonging to our local Church.”
The Pope speaks of unity
The way the Pope spoke of unity in the midst of a world divided by hatred, political calculations, and arms races, but also spiritual wars that seek to divide the Church, gives him a great sense of hope.
“We trust that, assisted by the Holy Spirit and united in our prayers, the Church will continue on the right path, because it has a good shepherd. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the CARF Foundation for enabling many priests to receive training so that we can serve the people entrusted to us by God with better academic resources,” concludes Fr. Christian Munayco Peves.
