“In football, Father Robert Prevost really liked the Argentines, but between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, he preferred the Portuguese player. He valued discipline, consistency and the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo demanded more of himself to win. He highlighted the Portuguese player’s work, patience and effort to go from less to more,” José María Nuñez, a former acolyte of then-Bishop Robert Prevost, who, between 2014 and 2023, led the diocese of Chiclayo, in northern Peru, told Lusa.

In line with Cristiano Ronaldo's discipline, all the priests interviewed by Lusa in Chiclayo agreed that the new Pope, aged 69, likes order and respects the tradition of liturgical accessories.

“Monsignor Robert liked everything to be in accordance with the liturgy. He paid attention to details,” recalled José María Nuñez, who met the bishop in 2016, when he was 16, and lived with him for two years until 2018.

“He is a concrete, concise person, of few words. He prefers to listen. He listens a lot and answers directly when necessary. He is very responsible with the things he does and is well-ordered,” Father José Luis Romero, vicar of the San Agustín parish, within the school of the same name, of the Order of Saint Augustine to which the Pope belongs and to which he went every year to minister masses, the first communion and the confirmation of the students, told Lusa.

The rector of the Peruvian Catholic University Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo, Patricia Campos, added another aspect that unites the new Pope with Portugal.

“A few years ago, from one of my trips to Brazil, I brought some books written in Portuguese by Cardinal Tolentino. I studied in Brazil. So, since I speak and read Portuguese, I brought the books in the original language, but I didn’t know if he knew Portuguese. So I told him that Tolentino should be read in Portuguese. He replied: ‘In Portuguese? Yes, I read it’. And he asked me for the books to read in the original language”, said Patricia Campos.

Elected Pope on May 8, after two days of conclave in Vatican City, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost chose the name Leo XIV. He succeeded Pope Francis, who died on April 21 at the age of 88.