HENDERSONVILLE — It was Monday, May 12, and while visiting Immaculate Conception parish from his diocese in Peru, Bishop Giovanni Cefai was riding to Asheville for another meeting. With his downtime, he decided to pull out his phone to send a message to a brother and mentor in Christ via WhatsApp.
But this message wasn’t to just anyone. It was to newly elected Pope Leo XIV – who for many years was known to Bishop Cefai as “Bishop Prevost” and then “Cardinal Prevost.”
And on Monday, Pope Leo, who had been shepherd of the worldwide Catholic Church for a mere four days, wrote him back.
“When he was appointed pope, I wrote him a small note,” Bishop Cefai told students and staff of Immaculata School Tuesday morning, where he was celebrating the weekly school Mass for students. “You can imagine the pope has a lot of friends – millions. But I said, ‘Holy Father, congratulations. We have a missionary pope! Our diocese is praying for Your Holiness. We ask you for your fatherly blessings.’”
Father Andres Gutierrez of Immaculate Conception Parish in Hendersonville and Bishop Michael Martin meet with Peruvian Bishop Giovanni Cefai.“Do you think that the pope wrote?” the bishop asked the children. “Yes! He wrote me a note! He said, ‘Muchas gracias. Bendiciones.’ (Thanks very much, every blessing.) Isn’t that beautiful?”
“Then, I wrote back, this time in English: ‘Holy Father, we love you. Huancané loves you, and we are praying for you. Thank you,’” Bishop Cefai shared.
Bishop Cefai, with the Missionary Society of St. Paul, is the bishop of the Territorial Prelature (diocese) of St. James the Apostle in Huancané, to which Father David O’Connor – Immaculate Conception’s parochial administrator – belongs.
From May 10-13, Bishop Cefai was in the area conducting mission appeals for his diocese, one of the newest and poorest in Peru. He offered Mass four times at Immaculate Conception Church and met with Charlotte Bishop Michael Martin.
Bishop Cefai talked about the poverty and lack of basic education and medical care in Peru. He asked parishioners to help support endeavors that include building a school and clinic and creating legal ways to earn income for people who often are forced to turn to illegal means.
These harsh realities are what Pope Leo XIV experienced during his decades in Peru.
“Our new pope is a big gift from God to the Church, because we need a pope who is like us, who inspires us, who helps us in our spiritual journey,” Bishop Cefai said. “Since the very beginning, he chose the themes of peace and being close to the People of God and social justice.
“He was in the Peruvian Bishops’ Conference, and he was the same – very humble, serving people, talkative, down to earth, you feel close to him,” Bishop Cefai said. “He has this ability to make you feel at home with him.”
The most recent meeting Bishop Cefai and Father O’Connor had with then-Bishop Prevost was in May 2023, when Bishop Cefai reached out to him through – what else? – WhatsApp to ask for a meeting. Bishop Prevost had been named head of the Dicastery of Bishops in January 2023, and Bishop Cefai had asked for guidance for his very young and underfunded prelature.
Bishop Cefai and Father O’Connor met with Bishop Prevost in Rome, where they were impressed with his willingness to assist.
As Bishop Cefai explained, “Immediately, he directed us to some agencies that could support us with financial help, so we could help the people there. From all aspects, he has been a very great help, a great advisor, and we have really benefited from his wisdom, his knowledge and his contacts.”
Father O’Connor also recounted their meeting with the humble man who is now leading the Church’s 1.5 billion Catholics.
“I remember he was very personable, very down to earth,” he said. 
Last week, as Father O’Connor, together with Father Andres Gutierrez, pastor of Immaculate Conception, and much of the parish staff watched on TV as Pope Leo XIV was announced, the priest said he was not entirely surprised.
“It wasn’t a shock for me because Bishop Giovanni had told me he believed Cardinal Prevost was a candidate for pope. He seems to be the ideal person because he has that mission experience. He knows the difficulty and sufferings of people on the ground,” he said.
Stories emerging from the news pope’s nearly 40 years in Peru speak for themselves, as many marvel at his journey from missionary priest to leader of the Church. And to Father O’Connor, Bishop Cefai and Father Gutierrez – all missionaries themselves – that’s exactly what the Church needs.
“As Pope Francis said, he is ‘a pastor smelling of the sheep.’ He’s not just someone who hears about the Church. He has walked with the people on the ground,” Father O’Connor said. “He also visited 50 countries as a superior. He knows what people think. He’s seen poverty and lived in it. The Church needs a father who knows how his children live.”
— Brittany Whitehead
