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As the world gets to know Pope Leo XIV, we are blessed to have in our diocesan family several priests who have met and known him and can give us insight into the life and personality of our new pope.
Fr Raymond Tumba OSA, Fr Nelson Daniel OSA and Fr Peter Ojiaku OSA share with us here their experience of Pope Leo as the superior of their Augustinian order, while Mgr Benny O’Shea, Fr Ian Byrnes and Fr Hugh Dutton remember him from their many years working in Peru. As Fr Ian says, “‘Habemus papam’ has a very new meaning” now, because this time it was said about a priest and bishop they know and have worked with!
Following the tragic death of Fr Jeremy Lear in a road accident near Lima on 21 March 1984, Fr Ian Byrnes and Mgr Benny O'Shea arrived in the Diocese of Chulucanas, Peru, in the Spring of 1985 to join Fr Hugh Dutton as part of the Arundel & Brighton Diocesan Mission group. In the same year Fr Robert Prevost, OSA, arrived from Chicago to work as Diocesan Chancellor and also Administrator of the Diocesan Cathedral which was dedicated to the Holy Family.
Fr Hugh has happy memories of the new pope from his arrival in Chulucanas as Chancellor, until up to his going to Rome to be the Prior General of the Augustinian order [2001]. In the 1990s, he was dean of studies in Trujillo which was the seminary then to which Chulucanas, where Fr Hugh worked, sent its seminarians and in which Fr Hugh was a formador.
“My main memory of him was in the staff meetings where he was very supportive of me when things could sometimes get a bit tense. He was great to work with: kind, understanding and very patient and it was great to have him as my ‘boss’.”
Fr Ian Byrnes recalls his first meeting with Fr “Bob”:
“I found, being deaf in my left ear, his body language was very welcoming, and I felt very much at ease with him. He was a great listener with a smooth sense of humour, and yet I felt there was a ‘four-wheel drive under the bonnet,’ so to speak. He was a person I could share a lot with if we had more time together. It was great to listen to him with such advice to give me for my good and others. He was very clear in his thinking and living.”
Mgr Benny recounts that
"during his time at the Cathedral we often met him when passing through Chulucanas to the other areas of our parishes, and at the regular Diocesan Pastoral meetings. He was then, as now, a very humble man of many great talents with a tremendous love for the Church and especially for the poor and marginalised. These gatherings were opportunities to meet with Bishop John McNabb RIP, Priests, Religious and Lay Leaders of the sixteen large Parishes to plan and also to review the progress of the Diocesan Pastoral Plan. Padre Roberto was very much involved in the organisation of these, with Padre Art Purcaro OSA."
Fr Nelson relates that
“I had an opportunity to meet him on one of his many visits to Nigeria as the Prior General of our Order(2001-2013), some few months to the start of my Augustinian Formation 17 years ago when the Bishop of Kano, Most Reverend John Namaza Niyiring, OSA was consecrated and installed on 13 May 2008.
“It was a memorable day which began with a 5-hour road trip for all Simply Professed students and Candidates in formation from the Augustinian Monastery in Jos to the Muslim-dominated ancient city of Kano in Northern Nigeria. Attending the consecration of a Bishop for the first time was a big thing for me but the climax was getting to meet with the man whose portrait hung on walls of Community Houses and whom we prayed for each Monday in the following words: ‘Let us pray for our Prior General and for those who assist him in directing the affairs of our Order, may they inspire us all to greater unity and fraternal co-operation.’
“I remember meeting a calm, soft spoken and gentle Priest and a humble one too who was pleased to meet with young persons who had only started their journey to religious life. I can still see that calmness in him even now as Pope Leo XIV and our prayers for him are still the same; this time not as Prior General but Pope Leo XIV, Vicar of Christ and Successor of St Peter... May he inspire us all to greater unity and fraternal co-operation. Amen.”
Fr Peter first met Pope Leo in 2008, when Pope Leo was Prior General and Fr Peter was a postulant and student of Philosophy in Makurdi Benue State, Nigeria. He tells us:
“I encountered [him] when one of our brothers was elected Bishop of Kano in Nigeria. Some of the postulants were selected to make a 7-hour journey by road for the consecration and installation. After the ordination, the Master of Students took us to the Prior General to have a photo and chat with him. It was a real and friendly encounter and we all marvelled at the way he related with us even without knowing us. He was glad to see young vocations and encouraged us. Little did I know that he will one day be a Pope!
“Forward to 2011, as a theology student in Nairobi Kenya, the Prior General came to the Augustinian Friary Formation House for a Council meeting. This formation community accommodates Augustinian students from various countries and the Prior General chairs the Council every year.
“The Council meeting was held every October to promote the universality of the Augustinian mission, to prepare the students for mission, deliberate on various issues concerning the common formation of Augustinian students and the well-being of both formators and students. One common thing about students in formation is thinking that community goods are not sufficient and their needs not adequately met. The then Fr Prevost OSA addressed the students after one of the Council meetings and I can remember his words when he said to us:
“‘You complain about many things and food, there are people out there who suffer from hunger and have nothing; if you get at least two meals a day, the third can be given to the poor.’
I didn’t understand the point he was making at that time but getting to know his mission in Peru, I fully understood he is a man of the poor.’”
During Fr Prevost's tenure as Prior General, Fr Peter relates that
“he was able to promote the Augustinian charism based on community living of one mind and heart intent upon God. He is a man who loved his Confrères, full of wisdom and able to mitigate situation in a way that appeal to everyone. He is firm in resolves, clear in his thoughts, and disciplined in his decisions.”
Fr Raymond recalls being appointed a member of the Augustinian International Youth Commission while Pope Leo was the Augustinian Prior General.
“This responsibility entailed frequent meetings in Rome with the Prior General with other members of the commission from other provinces and circumscriptions [countries]. My memory of Pope Leo is that as a leader he is unassuming, balanced in all ramifications, vastly knowledgeable and knows his onions when it comes to leadership.
“I vividly remembered one of the Nigerian Augustinian Chapter we had, a heated argument ensured and the atmosphere was charge and tense as if the matter was unresolvable and beyond resolution, all that the Prior General did, was to calm everyone, opened the Augustinian Constitution, read out the relevant and applicable section and that brought finality and conclusion to the pandemonium.”
While Cardinal Prevost may have gone into the conclave saying, “I sleep well at night (so far) trusting in the belief that there will not be an American pope”, his friends were not so certain – and their joy when the white smoke appeared on the evening of 8 May and Cardinal Robert Prevost was announced as the new Pope Leo XIV is clear.
Fr Raymond tells us that on the very day of the election, “with absolute serenity and conviction” he told an Augustinian priest friend in America that “our former Augustinian Prior General will be announced the successor of Pope Francis”. His friend thought like Cardinal Prevost that that there would not be an American pope, but Fr Raymond’s answered him “just watch and see”!
Mgr Benny was also thinking along similar, discussing the possibility with his friend Fr Purcaro, with whom he and Cardinal Prevost both worked closely in Peru:
"Fr Purcaro was due to concelebrate his Golden Jubilee Mass with Cardinal Prevost on the morning of the funeral of the late Pope Francis. Art sent me a text three days before the funeral saying – 'I presume Bob will now have other things to attend to on Saturday'. Following the funeral, Art sent me a photo in the afternoon of the two of them and I texted him back, saying- 'Two possibles for Pope'! To which he replied I’ll put my money on the guy in red! - Maybe our friend Art is a modern day prophet!"
Fr Ian Relates that he also
“began to have a sense that the Lord would call [Cardinal Prevost) further than just being a Cardinal, who saw his missionary life and his leadership in the Community of the Augustinians. When I was in Rome, [after Easter this year, with members of the Catholic Deaf Association, including Maria and Peter Booker, for the Jubilee of People with Disabilities], and in St Peter’s Square, I said to Jesus as I took a photo of the window where we would see the new pope, ‘When you open the window, please let “Bob” come out and lead us on your behalf.’ Glad to say that I was not shocked, like others, but deeply moved with the Lord’s peace and joy."
Like the other priests who know him, and like the rest of the Catholic world, Fr Raymond was very excited when the white smoke appeared. Returning home later that evening, he says,
“My phone was awash with congratulatory messages that my Augustinian brother, or one of our own, is now the Pope. Excited! Of course, I was excited but not surprised a bit because I saw it coming. Just as Bishop Richard or Canon Jonathan know me by my name, so too, Pope Leo.”
“What will remain indelible in my mind is the presence of the seagulls hovering round the chimney of the Sistine Chapel. They appeared as if to say, “We also endorse Cardinal Robert Prevost, OSA, as the new Pope and peace will prevail.”
Considering what kind of pope Pope Leo will be, Fr Ian states
“No doubt, we will all thank our shared Creator in the way we know, for the presence and leader of the universal Church which we all share in our humanity. Since his election I have watched on TV about him and had a great sense that he has changed but has grown beautifully to such a wonderful ministry in showing the Father’s Faith, Hope, and Love to each of us and all of us together in the world. I noticed that he was continuing, as before in Peru and around world, to be a servant of God and His children.”
Reflecting on the universality of the Church and Pope Leo’s connection to all of us, Fr Raymond says:
“I strongly felt that God prepared him all this while to be the Pope (it is so pleasing to hear that, while growing up, one of his neighbours said, one day he will be the Pope). The beauty of the Catholic Church is that, neither the Augustinians nor Americans will claim him as theirs. Just as Cephas was called Peter, so also Cardinal Robert Prevost, OSA is now called Pope Leo XIV, in other words, he belongs to all of us."
While Fr Peter also expresses his confidence in the priorities and qualities of Pope Leo, to carry out his new responsibilities:
“I have no doubt that he is a Pope who will have a special place in his heart for the poor and those in need. His first address to the world was the message of peace, mission and a reach out to the poor. He is a man I believe, who will propel the church to a mission that will bring tranquillity. He is purposeful, enlightened and disciplined in all ramifications. He is gentle, humble and is everything to all.”
Finally, Mgr Benny reminds us that we have our own part to play in Pope Leo's universal mission:
"Since the Conclave, in which he was elected as Bishop of Rome and our new Pope last week, many articles and well-deserved thousands of 'positive' words have been written about Leo XIV. We should all feel that we have a role to play in supporting our Pope in the great task and responsibility which he now has to bear, especially with our prayers. We can play our part by responding to the call made by Pope Francis during his visit to Peru in 1918 for all of us to become 'Missionary Disciples' bringing the Good News to those whom we meet."
God bless Pope Leo XIV!
Thank you to Fr Raymond, Fr Peter, Fr Nelson, Mgr Benny, Fr Ian and Fr Hugh for sharing these accounts with us.
