Vatican releases biopic on Pope Leo XIV’s early years in Rome
The Vatican has released a new documentary, “Leone a Roma,” about Pope Leo XIV’s early years in Rome before his election to the papacy.
Following its previous documentaries, “León de Perú” and “Leo from Chicago,” the documentary premiered July 1 on the Vatican News YouTube channels in English, Italian, and Spanish.
The documentary covers the then-Father Robert Prevost’s nearly two decades in the Eternal City. He first came to Rome to study canon law at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas from 1981 to 1987, served as prior general of the Augustinians from 2001 to 2013, and led the Dicastery for Bishops from 2023 to 2025.
Prevost’s trips and fun moments with Augustinians
Many of his former Augustinian confreres reminisce about their time with Prevost, particularly their trips with him throughout Italy. Father Giovanni Lenzi, OSA, speaking to Vatican News, reflected on those trips with fondness.
“We went on trips to various parts of Italy, both in Sicily and to the north, up in Trentino, but also to various places where our houses were located, our Augustinian houses in Liguria,” Lenzi told Vatican News.
Prevost is also remembered for his lighthearted moments with his fellow Augustinians. Father Ciro Musiello, OSA, recalls a particular prank Prevost and others played on him.
“One time we were doing spiritual exercises with the Jesuit fathers. [Prevost and others] said to me, ‘Here, we’d like to offer you a candy.’ So I thought it was candy, but instead it was a laxative tablet.”
“As a result, while I was in the chapel, I had to run to the bathroom,” Musiello recounted to Vatican News.
Serving as Augustinian prior general for 12 years required Prevost to travel frequently to meet other Augustinians worldwide. Father Miguel Ángel Martín Juárez, OSA, expressed surprise that Prevost could do it all while based in Rome.
“He traveled. He had a provincial chapter in Australia, then on the way back, he would stop to visit a province, who knows which one.”
“Then he would arrive here [at the Augustinian General Curia in Rome] in the afternoon, maybe after the whole night on a plane. In the afternoon, he was already working in the office. It was tremendous physical and also mental endurance,” Juárez told Vatican News.
Service in helping the pope select the world’s bishops
Raised to the cardinalate by Pope Francis in 2023, Prevost returned to Rome that year after serving as a bishop in Peru to serve as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. This was his most recent post before he was elected Pope Leo XIV in 2025.
María Lía Zervino, a member of the dicastery, remembers Prevost for his thoughtfulness and listening while serving as its leader.
“It was clear that he had this way of listening, of gathering what others had to say, of reasoning about it, to do with his own imprint,” Zervino told Vatican News. “So he is used to working with this kind of discernment and has no problem making a decision.”
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