Madrid - In recent days, on the occasion of the defence of a friend’s doctoral thesis, the Reverend Monsignor Edgard Iván Rimaycuna Inga, personal secretary to Pope Leo XIV, gave a brief interview to Alfa y Omega, the weekly publication linked to the Archdiocese of Madrid. His words offer a portrait of a ministry lived in discretion at the Pope’s side, while also providing a direct glimpse of the human and pastoral style of Leo XIV: a man who, according to those who have known him for years, has remained close to people, sober, patient, and deeply shaped by the ecclesial experience of Latin America.
What does it really mean to be the personal secretary to a Pope, in this case Leo XIV?
It means working alongside a friend, in my particular case; being the one who helps him in his daily work and who protects him so that he can carry out that work in peace. My role is also to help him find and secure the rest he needs, so that the Holy Father may continue his mission of guiding the Church.
Yours, the secretary’s role, is a discreet one. How does one learn the art of being present and absent at the same time?
No one teaches you how to be the Pope’s secretary, because it is a task that can come upon you from one moment to the next. Over these months I have been reflecting on two ideas, above all on the image of two saints we find in Sacred Scripture. The first is Saint Joseph, who is the saint of silence; he does not utter a single word. His whole life was lived in second place, because the first places were always held by Mary and Jesus. The other figure is Saint John the Baptist. He has that phrase which says: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” I believe those are the two images that sum up the mission and task of a secretary: to remain in second place, and for the focus of attention to be on the other person.
You knew him when you were very young in Chiclayo, while you were a seminarian. What do you see still remains now of Father Roberto?
Everything remains, because he has not changed. I could put it this way: only the clothing has changed, which is now white, and the task entrusted to him. The man we all knew is the same: close to people, calm, with a great capacity for listening, and always available. Despite the immense workload, the pace, the many activities... he always finds time to receive people, to listen.
What features of the Pope’s experience of the reality of the Church in Latin America can be seen in the way he is exercising the pontificate?
Always contact with people, closeness. In Latin America we are used to physical closeness, to personal contact. Popular religiosity is very much alive, and the Holy Father has brought that into the governance of the Church. In that closeness he always seeks to greet, to smile, to offer a word of encouragement, a phrase, or a small gesture.
And yet, for the moment, the headlines emphasise that he is prudent and sober. From the inside, how do you perceive the features of his pontificate?
He is sober because that is simply his way of being. Always prudent, calm, patient. But his years in Peru also helped him to discover that closeness to people, to know how to share the same reality, the same condition as the people in the missions where he served. He knows how to combine prudence and American practicality with the closeness he learned in Latin America, with warm, personal and affectionate gestures.
We are eagerly awaiting his visit. What does this journey mean at this moment in the pontificate?
First of all, it is the closeness of the shepherd to his people, to the people the Lord has entrusted to him. Throughout history, this land has been distinguished for having given the Church many saints, figures of great authority and importance, because of their teaching and the holiness of their lives. Through this visit, as a sign of closeness and gratitude, the Holy Father wishes to acknowledge all that has been offered from here to the world and to the Church in faith and in Christian life.