"It has been an immense emotion" to see Pope Leo XIV again, said Mother María Priscila, a member of the Missionaries of Jesus, Word and Victim who serves in Cañaris, a Quechua-speaking town in the Andes in the Diocese of Chiclayo.
Her congregation works in the most remote and isolated places in Peru and elsewhere in Latin America. Besides being superior of her community, she is in charge of St. John the Baptist Parish in Cañaris because of a shortage of priests.
She spoke to EWTN News after the pope's prayer meeting on Nov. 14 at the shrine of St. Turibius of Mogrovejo in Zaña, which closed the jubilee year for the 300th anniversary of the saint's canonization.
"I felt a great deal of emotion, because I was fortunate enough to work in Incahuasi, and that is where we had his first visit [in 2014], when he was appointed apostolic administrator. We welcomed him with great emotion and great joy," she said.
Incahuasi, another Andean town, was a place the pope had wanted to visit, but it was dropped from the itinerary because it did not meet minimum technical requirements.
"Seeing him now as Holy Father has been an immense emotion, because he is very well known to me: We have shared time on several occasions, on his pastoral tours, on missions with the communities," she said.
Asked what the pope told her after she gave her testimony at the meeting, she said he asked where she was working now. "He congratulated me and told me to keep going, working in those communities, which need it so much."
In her testimony, the sister recalled how often Robert Prevost had come to the diocese's high Andean region despite the rugged terrain, speaking about Christ "to so many boys and girls, as Jesus did with his disciples," and sharing "such human moments, with such simplicity and humanity."
"Those gestures have filled our hearts with the joy of living in a Church that is close to people, that cares about the evangelization of everyone," she said.
Abel Camasca contributed to this report from Zaña, Peru.
This story was first published by EWTN News Español. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
