Three Mexican seminarians in Castel Gandolfo: the Pope has an immense tenderness

When these three light smile seminarians agreed to be volunteer in the Borgo Laudato yes “A 55 -hectare ecological paradise in the Pontifical Villas of Castel Gandolfo,” they didn’t know that Pope Leo XIV would be his neighbor.

“It was two weeks after being there when (Leo XIV) officially announced that a rest period was going to spend here. It was really a blessing,” says Jesús Israel Aguirre Legaria, who with 24 years is the youngest in the group.

Another of the Mexicans is Porfirio Ramírez Méndez, with 29 years and from the Diocese of Huajuapan de León; and Sergio Camarillo Gámez, 27 and who arrives from the Archdiocese of Puebla.

The three can boast of being the first seminarians who have collaborated as volunteers in the heart of the Pontifical Gardens of Castel Gandolfo for a month.

Surrounded by an overwhelming biodiversity with more than 3,000 plants of 300 different species, agricultural areas and archaeological remains of the Villa of the Roman Emperor Address, they have performed very different tasks.

Stain

These range from welcoming pilgrims at the entrance of the gardens, accompanying them during guided tours – whether walking or on the bus – or doing more earthly tasks that require staining their hands.

“We learned notions of gardening, we had to cut plants, help sow, clean sources and accommodate water systems,” says Jesús Israel, originally from Oaxaca and next to fulfill ten years of training in the seminar.

In any case, he says that “the most important thing has been to collaborate in the liturgy: prepare the Mass, attend in the Eucharistic celebration, take care of the songs and accompany the pilgrims spiritually.”

This preference of his is intertwined with his vocational history that sprouted in 2014, when he was barely 13 years old: “curiously my vocation, maybe it sounds very disney, but it emerged in my dreams.”

In those dreams, he says, I felt a strong attraction towards the Eucharist: “From there I wanted to feel in person, that I had felt in my dreams. Then I gradually realized that in the path of the vocation it was where I found that taste that I had already experienced before.”

Mass for creation

Therefore, one of the most exciting moments he has lived in Castel Gandolfo was the Mass that Pope Leo XIV presided over July 9, in which he first used the new liturgy approved to boost global ecological awareness “for the care of creation.”

“It was something very special. Not only for the Eucharist, but for everything we saw there,” he recalls. “I believe that at first we had not sized the greatness of that Mass. But during the preparation we realized that we were facing something truly important,” he adds.

In addition to the spiritual impact of that liturgy, this young seminarian keeps an indelible memory of the personal encounter with the Pope. “I had the opportunity to talk with him. My name asked me, where I studied, what I was doing there … I told him a little about my story, which I have been in Rome for two years, that I am voluntary with my teammates. And then we were surprised by all because it was he who asked us for a photo together.”

That brief exchange left him an indelible mark. “The Pope is a man who infects a very deep spirituality. He has an immense tenderness. His presence is very paternal.”

Also Sergio Camarillo Gámez – who takes his theological studies at the Pontifical International College Mary Mother Church– He has lived a unique service experience in this ecological project that overflows spirituality.

“We as seminarians are always studying in front of books, perhaps in a closed environment,” says this Mexican who entered the seminar at age 18, encouraged by the vocation of his younger brother.

Become aware of everything that implies the care of nature

Instead, his experience in Castel Gandolfo is in contact with nature, with Laudato yesand affirms that he has changed forever. “It is a very important point because it makes us aware of everything that implies care, such as Pope Francis has promoted: the care of nature, of the common house,” he says.

In his case, it was possible to serve in Castel Gandolfo from June 1 to 15, and will return again from August 1 to 15. The young man confesses: “I had never had experience with gardening or with the earth before. This opportunity helped me to value the small details, the effort of those who care for these spaces.”

Pope Leo XIV returned to the Vatican on Tuesday after spending two weeks in Castel Gandolfo. But it may not be the last time you greet these young seminarians, since it will return from August 15 to 17.