Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Trujillo (Agenzia Fides) - Affection, gratitude, and emotion. These are the feelings that resonate in the words of Father José Hipolito Purizaca Sernaque, National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Peru, when he speaks about the new Bishop of Rome. "Pope Leo XIV, who also obtained Peruvian citizenship in 2015," says Father Purizaca, a member of the clergy of the Archdiocese of Trujillo, "spent a long period of his life in Peru, more than twenty years in total, always on mission, living in the peripheries and caring for the weakest. The Pontifical Mission Societies were also very dear to his heart. He supported them especially when he was Bishop of the Diocese of Chiclayo." "During those years," Father José Hipolito recalls today, "Robert Francis Prevost also cultivated a very close relationship with the boys and girls of the Pontifical Mission Societies, who call themselves 'Youth Without Borders,' and who had the opportunity to share many moments and celebrations with him, including the Christmas Mass in 2014." Father Purizaca also recalls participating in the Congress on Catholic Education held in the Archdiocese of Trujillo in 2015, where Bishop Prevost sat beside him as a speaker.
More recently, Father Purizaca received a video message on the occasion of the General Assembly of the Council of Latin American Bishops (CELAM) in May 2023, in which Archbishop Prevost – now appointed by Pope Francis as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops – congratulated the Pontifical Mission Societies in Peru on their 91st anniversary and thanked all those who work with dedication in the missionary service of the Church.
"The new Pope," the National Director concluded, "is known as a missionary, as someone who knows how to be with everyone and unite everyone. Wherever he has served as a missionary, he is greatly appreciated by lay people, priests, religious, and bishops. A great man, a man of God." (EG) (Agenzia Fides, 10/5/2025)
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