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“My Dear Friend, Bishop Prevost”: The Peruvian Educator Awaiting Leo XIV
Rosario Urviola worked closely with Robert Prevost in Catholic education in Peru. With the pope’s arrival just days away, the principal of a school in Lima recalls what it was like working with him and shares what she would tell him about the violence affecting families.
INTERVIEW | CHURCH IN PERU
Ana Paula Morales (Poli)
11/12/20264 min read
Photo caption: Rosario Urviola López de Ugaz with Bishop Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV. Urviola worked with him while serving as director of Peru’s National Office of Catholic Education. Photo courtesy of Rosario Urviola López de Ugaz.
At El Buen Pastor School in Los Olivos, a district of Lima, the upcoming visit of Pope Leo XIV has become a frequent topic of conversation among teachers, during lunch breaks and at staff meetings. Rosario Urviola López de Ugaz, the school’s principal, has also discussed the visit with students in their first and second years of secondary school. She explained what the pope means to Catholics and why his arrival in Peru holds special significance for her.
“He was my boss,” she says in an interview with Press Crux. Urviola recalls working directly with Robert Prevost when she headed the National Office of Catholic Education (ONDEC) of the Peruvian Bishops’ Conference. At home, she would often talk about how meetings had gone and which decisions still needed to be made. What has stayed with her from those years is the calm with which he handled problems brought to the office from different parts of the country.
“His calmness and wisdom were things I truly admired, and I often talked about them with my family.”
Bishop Robert Prevost spent nearly 21 years in Peru at different stages of his life and became a Peruvian citizen in 2015. He first arrived in Chulucanas in 1985 as an Augustinian missionary, later served in Trujillo and eventually became bishop of Chiclayo.
For those who knew him during those years, the visit also marks the return of a shepherd who shared in the everyday life of their communities.
From the Classroom to the Cathedral Square
At El Buen Pastor, the school community is preparing for the visit through conversations and moments of prayer. Urviola recalls that during a recent meeting, time was set aside to reflect on what it means to welcome the Holy Father to Peru.
Her conversations with students have given her a sense of their excitement.
“Children and young people today get very excited when we talk about him,” she says.
Leo XIV is scheduled to arrive at Callao Air Base on Wednesday, November 11, following visits to Uruguay and Argentina. On his first day, he will meet with President Keiko Fujimori and later with government officials, representatives of civil society and members of the diplomatic corps.
On Thursday, November 12, at 11:30 a.m., he will take part in a gathering focused on the challenges and hopes of the Peruvian people in the square in front of Lima Cathedral.
The Holy See’s official itinerary is available here.
The visit will continue through November 16 and will include Chiclayo, the diocese he led for eight years, as well as Santa Cruz de Succhabamba in Cajamarca, Cusco and Pucallpa in the Peruvian Amazon.
In Lima, Urviola hopes to attend the gathering in the square. She knows it will be difficult to get close to the pope, but she is excited by the possibility of greeting him and looking him in the eyes once again.
What She Would Tell Him About Violence
The papal visit comes just over three months after Keiko Fujimori took office as president.
According to Reuters, the Fuerza Popular candidate won June’s presidential runoff with 50.135% of valid votes, compared with 49.865% for Roberto Sánchez of Juntos por el Perú.
Fujimori became the 10th person to hold Peru’s presidency since 2016, following a decade of political instability.
Public insecurity remains one of the challenges facing her administration. In October, the government extended the state of emergency in metropolitan Lima and Callao for 60 days amid persistent homicides, contract killings and extortion.
Under the measure, police remain responsible for maintaining public order, with support from the armed forces, according to the decree published in Peru’s official gazette, El Peruano.
If she had the opportunity to speak with Leo XIV, Urviola says she would first tell him about her students’ excitement.
She would also describe how threats have disrupted daily life at the school. She recalls occasions when classes had to move online.
“I would also tell him about the difficult situation our country is going through because of the criminal violence we face every day,” she says, reflecting on families living in fear and what she hopes the papal visit might bring.
Urviola hopes the Holy Father will encourage Peruvians to pray and to ask themselves what they can do in response to that violence.
As the interview draws to a close, she refers to him as “our Pope Leo XIV.”
Then, almost immediately, she returns to the name by which she knew him during their years working together:
“My dear friend, Bishop Prevost.”
Photo caption: Rosario Urviola López de Ugaz during a celebration at which Bishop Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, distributes Holy Communion. Photo courtesy of Rosario Urviola López de Ugaz.
