Robert Prevost in Peru: The Pope's 'compadre'

In 1985, Father Robert Prevost arrived in the small northern Peruvian town of Chulucanas for his first missionary assignment.

It was a rural community with unpaved streets, widespread poverty and frequent flooding caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon. For local boys like Héctor Camacho, becoming an altar boy was one of the few after-school activities available. Prevost was the first priest Héctor ever served at the altar.

Héctor tells Stefania Gozzer about Pope Leo XIV's first days in Peru and the friendship that began there. They have remained in touch ever since. Today, Héctor's daughter, Mildred, is Prevost's goddaughter and bears the name of Prevost's late mother.

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(Photo: Robert Prevost with Héctor Camacho's partner and their daughter, Mildred, during her baptism. Credit: Héctor Camacho's family archive.)