Fray Pipe: The story of the ordered Augustinian friar for today Pope Leo XIV

When the young Augustine friar Luis Fernando Oblitas, known by all as Fray Pipe, recalls his diaconal and then priestly ordination, cannot avoid feeling joy and astonishment: he was ordered by the bishop who would later become Pope Leo XIV himself.

“The Pope ordered me!” He still exclaimed with emotion in an interview granted to ACI Press from Chiclayo, city of northern Peru where the pontiff – known as Mons. Robert Francis Prevost – was a bishop between 2014 and 2023.

Before assuming the episcopate in Peruvian lands, the Pope had been a prior general of the Order of St. Augustine during two consecutive periods, which also allowed him to maintain a very close relationship with the Agustina community in the country.

A “family” arrangement

The Diaconal Planning of Fray Pipe was held on November 13, 2021 and his priestly ordination took place on June 18, 2022. Both occurred in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic and were chaired by Mons. Robert Francis Prevost, Agustino who professed his solemn votes more than 40 years ago.

“My priestly ordination was in the coliseum of the San Agustín de Chiclayo College. One day, Mons. Prevost came for confirmation and said: ‘Monsignor, I tell him that the priesthood has already approved me. I would like Monsignor ‘. Then he replied:’ Ah, me?

For Fray Pipe, the priestly order goes far beyond a liturgical rite; It represents the unity of the Agustina family, something that Pope today underlined strongly when he was a general prior. “He felt this: we are brothers, we are more than just a bishop and a deacon. We are Augustinian. And, indeed, he ordered me priest. It was, the truth, beautiful, because we were as a family,” he says.

His first blessing to the future Pope

An especially emotional moment was at the end of the priestly ordination mass. “What I really like to tell is that some bishops have the habit of asking for the first blessing of the priest. And yes, indeed, the Mass ended and grabbed me as a surprise because Mons. Premost told me: ‘Well, I want to take advantage of my privilege of an ordering bishop and I want to ask for your first blessing.

That gesture, he says, marked it deeply. “I remember that I was very excited to see that a bishop knelt in front of me and asked me for the blessing. And I said: ‘Who am I to do that?'” “Kneeling so that I give him the blessing has been a memory and a gift from God. An action that speaks a lot about him, his humility,” he added.

The joke that became a reality

On May 8, 2025, when the cardinals chose a new successor of Pedro, the Agustina community in Chiclayo also lived carefully.

Fray Pipe remembers with humor: “I already joked before the conclave.

The closeness and simplicity of Mons. Prevost

Fray Pipe’s first encounter with the then prior of the Augustinians occurred in 2012, during his vocational process. “When I arrived at the convent I saw his photo there – we have the photo of the superior general,” and suddenly, at a lunch, she appeared. And I looked at the painting, she looked at her face, and said: ‘Wow! It’s here, right?’ “

Although then they did not interact directly, what he saw marked him: “My first impression was that of someone close. I think something that characterizes the Augustinians is that, the issue of community, of the unit.”

Over time, in Chiclayo, the relationship became closer. Mons. Prevost began calling him “Pipe”, his lifelong nickname, a gesture that the friar remembers with love because he made him feel truly welcomed.

A shepherd with young people

Fray Pipe also highlights the proximity that Mons. Premost had with young people. “Here in the diocese it was very simple with young people. There I have WhatsApp groups with the boys of the youth pastoral and everyone is hanging their photo with him.”

For Fray Pipe that closeness did not subtract depth. “What I could share with him is that closeness. That is not why he tells you that he had no depth too. I remember his homilies when confirmations came. I liked them a lot, really.”

“He had a lot of training in canon law, theology, mathematics. Well, he is the Pope!, He has to be formed. And as Agustín’s son, he is also someone who knows enough,” he added.

“God choose the small”: Fray Pipe’s message to young people

As a young leader among the Augustinians, Fray Pipe also wanted to leave a message to young people who feel vocational concern, now that the Church has an Augustinian Pope.

“I have been reflecting a lot in these hours on how God chooses people no matter where they come from,” he says. Remember with emotion that, in his first reflection as a pontiff, Pope Leo XIV mentioned Chiclayo, “a city that, let’s say, is not one of the most famous in the world.” “And sometimes God is like this: he chooses the small. We have seen it in many vocational stories, in biblical characters …”

Therefore, he invited young people not to be afraid: “If you feel little, do not feel worthy, do not feel the most holy in the world, remember that God looks at you, in each one, in a special way. And God loves us in a unique way. As he did with St. Augustine.”