SÃO PAULO, Brazil – Many people who worked with Pope Leo XIV when he was Bishop Robert Prevost of Chiclayo, Peru, couldn’t hold back tears when his election was announced on May 8.

For them, it was not just a sign that God answered their prayers for a new pope who would follow Francis’s path, but also the confirmation that they had been guided by an extraordinary leader.

“Since the moment he arrived, we noticed that he was a person touched by the Lord,” Father Carlos Samame told Crux.

Rita Paredes, a lay member of the diocesan team of pastoral animation, said that Prevost “has a spirituality that emerges from his skin, as if he was surrounded by the Holy Spirit.”

“He has great charisma, but he’s humble and has a gentle way of addressing the people,” she explained.

The pope’s appearance of holiness may have been boosted by the role he played during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lambayeque, the region where Chiclayo is located – in the northern part of Peru – was one of the most impacted areas in the South American country after the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

“There was some inertia. He decided to take the lead and discussed with the authorities how to face the catastrophe. After his initiative, other social segments joined the efforts,” Samame recalled.

He said Prevost would not fear contagion and was always out of his house helping those in need. Due to such efforts, two oxygen plants were implemented in Chiclayo. Cylinders would be distributed to people who could not afford to buy one.

“That action certainly saved many lives,” Samame said.

Videos on social media show Prevost, accompanied by priests, walking on the empty streets of Chiclayo with the monstrance in his hands, praying in front of the people’s houses.

In different years, heavy rains also hit the region, causing enormous damages and isolating entire districts. Prevost again talked to the authorities and gathered distinct social actors to coordinate relief.

“That’s why the people here don’t forget him. In the worst time of their lives, he was with them,” Samame said.

Indeed, Rita Paredes affirmed that she will “never forget the wave of solidarity he promoted during the pandemic.”

The pope will not forget the people of Chiclayo as well. During his inaugural speech as the new pontiff, Leo XIV saluted “those of my dear diocese of Chiclayo, in Peru, where a faithful people has accompanied their bishop, has shared its faith and has given so, so much in order to keep being a Church that is loyal to Jesus Christ.”

Created in the 1950s, the Diocese of Chiclayo was headed for 30 years by Spanish-born Bishop Ignacio de Orbegozo y Goicoechea, a member of the Opus Dei and one of the preferred pupils of founder Saint Josemaria Escrivá.

After his death in 1998, he was replaced by Spanish-born Bishop Jesús Moliné, who has been identified by different sources as an Opus Dei member as well. Although he publicly denied it on one occasion years ago, he studied at the University of Navarra, kept by the group, and has been present to numerous ceremonies in honor of Escrivá over the years. He also wrote a biography of Orbegozo.

The social perspective of Prevost’s work apparently inaugurated a new era in the Diocese. The prelate who replaced him after he left for the Vatican in 2023, Bishop Edinson Farfán – also an Augustinian – said during a press conference on May 8 that Prevost made in Peru a preferential “option for the poor,” echoing the Latin American Liberation Theology formulation.

Despite that, it has never been possible to see any division in Prevost’s guidance of that particular Church, said Ximena Valdivia Muro, who heads the Youth Pastoral Ministry.

“We know there are in our diocese Traditionalists, people connected to the Charismatic Catholic Renewal or to Liberation Theology. But I never saw him turning his back to any person or to any group. He always worked for communion,” she told Crux.

As a leader of the youth group, Valdivia would always discuss with the bishop the activities that were being planned. At times, she would invite him for one of them. Prevost would never play dead or give excuses not to participate, she said.

“He would always talk to us and be there when the members of the group needed. He is very humble and frequently agreed to hold Q&A sessions with the teenagers,” Valdivia said.

At times, Prevost would ask her how things were going in the pastoral ministry. She would answer him, but soon would realize that he already had all the information.

“He accompanied everything that happened in the diocese,” Valdivia said.

The genuine concern he demonstrated about the group and about her always gave her the “impression that an amorous father was taking care of his children.”

“For me, that feeling is connected to Jesus,” she said.

Valdivia traveled to the Vatican after Prevost left Peru. She was present during the consistory, when he was created a cardinal.

“He told us on more than one occasion that Francis’s efforts towards synodality were a very positive thing, that it was a way of being closer to the people. I think he will keep that direction,” she said.

Samame agrees. The priest said that Prevost was always a good example of a Church that goes out – given that he was always the first to do so during hard times.

He described the pope as a demanding man, both in relation to himself and to others.

“He was always very concerned about our pastoral work, whether we were close to our communities or not. And he never missed an opportunity to talk to us priests when possible,” he recalled.

Samame lived at the rectory with the bishop for many years. He said the most impacting characteristic Prevost has is that “he never leaves you alone.”

“When my mother got seriously ill, he never forgot to ask me how she was doing. Those details are not secondary. They marked my experience with him,” he said.

Samame thinks that Prevost’s deep knowledge of the Peruvian reality and all he learned during his visits to other Latin American countries and to Africa as the prior of the Augustinians will help him deal with the complex realities a pope faces.

“He combines the ability to work hard that the Americans have with a Latin American spirit, and he’s very talented as an administrator,” he said.

In the opinion of Rita Paredes, Prevost’s election is a sign that God heard her – and many other people’s – prayers.

“We had been praying for a new pope that would keep Francis’s pastoral direction. God answered our needs. I’m sure the new pope has that particular charisma of knowing how to work with the poor,” she said.