In 1984, Robert Prevost was traveling from Rome to León, Spain. He knew there was a parish in Barcelona dedicated to Saint Augustine, so he stopped there, but it was closed. Forty-two years later, he returned—but as Pope Leo XIV. Naturally, it was open and full of people this time.
During this visit, the pope came to learn about the life of the diocese and met Renzo, a six-year-old boy with many questions. He asked them directly to Pope Leo. This was the conversation:
RENZO
Hello, Pope Leo XIV. My name is Renzo, and I’m 6 years old. I’d like to ask you some questions: Do you like soccer?
POPE LEO XIV
Everyone knows that now I pl, y tennis. When I was young, I played football, but American football, which is a bit more violent, yet I also played soccer with the seminarians when I was in Trujillo. I was a defender, in case anyone wants to know. I wasn’t a great goal scorer, but when I was living first in Rome, where I experienced my first World Cup in 1982, which was held here in Spain, and later in Peru with the seminarians, I followed the local teams closely and also played with the seminarians.
RENZO
When you were little, did you want to be Pope?
POPE LEO XIV
I didn’t want to be Pope when I was young, nor when I was older. But when the Lord calls, you have to say yes.
RENZO
Why are so many grandparents alone if they are so important?
POPE LEO XIV
We must care for and accompany our grandparents in their old age, just as they once cared for us. We must not allow loneliness and abandonment to become normal in the lives of older adults. That is something very sad. Let us keep our hearts open to all of them; and even if they are not our own grandparents, we should not allow them to feel alone or unprotected. Because if we do not want loneliness for ourselves, we should not allow it for others either.
Besides answering all of Renzo's thoughtful and varied questions—hopefully to Renzo's satisfaction—Pope Leo also gave the young boy a blessing and a hug.
