Agustino Prior Provincial remembers visit from Pope Leo XIV to Mexico

Before being chosen as Supreme Pontiff, the now Pope Leo XIV visited Mexico on several occasions when he was a prior to the order of San Agustín between 2001 and 2013. His proximity to the country has left a mark on those who met him.

In an interview with ACI Press, Fray Marco Antonio Luna Medrano, prior of the province of San Nicolás de Tolentino de Michoacán, shared some memories of those visits.

In 2001, Fray Robert Prevost was elected a prior general of the order of San Agustín. His first visit to Mexico took place in 2002, as part of a canonical visit to the Augustinian communities. Then he would return to the country about 10 times more.

He especially recalls that he met the now Pope León in 2002, when he was still studying at Professor San Alipio, located in the State of Mexico. Then, he saw it again in 2007, already as a priest, and once again in 2012.

He highlighted a detail that caught his attention since the first time he met Fray Robert Prevost: “That he knows you, can see you at 10, 15 years and remember your name. He remembers who you are, he remembers where you are. That is something very important that he has.”

Subsequently, Fray Luna Medrano was sent to study in Rome (Italy), where he could live more closely with the current Pope, and remember to have discovered in him “a very close, very kind person, who listens a lot.”

Leo XIV, a very Marian Pope

Although he cannot assure that during his trips to Mexico City he has visited the Basilica of Guadalupe, Fray Marco Antonio Luna Medrano states with conviction that Pope Leo XIV “is extremely Marian.”

This perception is shared by Fr. Jorge Millán Cotrina, a Peruvian priest who collaborated with Mons. Robert Prevost when he was a bishop of Chiclayo. Speaking to ACI Press, he commented that “the Pope is devoted to the Virgin, but did not have a particular invocation.”

A sample of that Marian devotion occurred in 2019, when he consecrated his diocese before the pilgrim image of the Virgin of Fatima, whose holiday celebrates the Catholic Church every May 13.

Another significant gesture occurred just two days after his choice as a pontiff, when Pope Leo XIV made a surprise visit to the sanctuary of the mother of the good advice, located in Genazzano, a small town at approximately one hour from Rome.

Although Fray Luna confesses that he would like to be certain that the then prior general visited the Basilica of Guadalupe, he recognized with humor that he cannot confirm it. However, he pointed out “among us the Augustinians in Latin America have this motto: ‘Who comes to Mexico and does not visit the Virgin of Guadalupe is mortal sin.”

And he concludes with hope that “without a doubt, this will bring it (to the Pope), I am sure, to Mexico.”

A Pope who knows the reality of Mexico and the world

The province of San Nicolás de Tolentino of the Order of San Agustín – with a presence in Aguascalientes, Durango, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Querétaro and Texas (United States) – was one of the destinies of the Pope when he was a prior Agustino.

Fray Luna Medrano recalled that, during that time, Fray Robert Prevost visited each of the Houses of the Augustinians in Mexico. In those meetings, “he talked with the Augustinian friars, but he also gave his time to talk with people, to talk to people,” especially after some liturgical celebration in the communities.

In that sense, Fray Luna Medrano ensures that Pope Leo XIV knows firsthand the problem of Mexico, something that – according to him – was surely repeated in each country he visited as a prior.

This, he adds, gives him the advantage of understanding “the realities of the five continents”, since, according to the Agustinos websitethe order has a presence in more than 50 countries.

“He has a perfect knowledge of the reality of the world. Very clear and face -to -face, come on, that is an advantage. He has a very clear idea of ​​how the world is in all his contexts,” he concluded.