Before he was Pope Leo XIV, he was simply Father Roberto, a young American missionary priest in Peru who understood that guiding young people meant more than preaching. It meant walking with them.
As seen in the EWTN News documentary “Pope Leo’s Peru,” his first assignment brought him to Chulucanas, a small, remote city in northwest Peru.
Though he would remain there for just one year, what he encountered and the people he met would shape his life forever. It was 1985, and he had just turned 30.
In this rural community known for its pottery and agriculture, Father Roberto quickly became a steady presence for local youth. He focused on keeping them out of trouble while helping them grow in their relationship with God, but he did so in a way that felt personal. And his approach worked.
Many of his former altar servers gathered with EWTN News to reminisce on serving with Pope Leo 40 years earlier.
Martin Feijo remembers, “Father Roberto would call us to meetings on Saturday evenings, but we, as young people, wanted to go out to the disco and all
