Leo XIV Reunites with the Augustinian Family in Lima: Unity, Emotion, and Prayer

The Apostolic Nunciature in Lima hosted a private encounter between Pope Leo XIV and the Augustinian Family. Friar Álvaro Matías, OSA, and Friar Willmer Moyetones, OAR, share two especially meaningful moments: a song that stirred hearts and the gift of an image of Saint Ezekiel Moreno as an expression of the Augustinian family’s prayers for the Holy Father.

They call Lima “Lima the Gray.” Today, however, the Peruvian capital seemed to have a different light. We don’t know whether it was from the yellow walls of the Apostolic Nunciature or the joy brightening the faces of those who were reuniting with someone so dearly loved. There, the Augustinian Family—Augustinians, Augustinian Recollect friars, and Augustinian Recollect sisters—gathered privately with the man whom, just a couple of years ago, they fraternally called “Father Roberto,” and whom the world knows today as Pope Leo XIV.

It wasn’t just an encounter with the Successor of Peter. It was also a family reunion, of brothers and sisters sharing the same spirituality and a history woven around Saint Augustine’s restless heart. Amid songs, hugs, excited nerves, and small gifts, the Nunciature briefly became a home where communion ceased to be just a word and turned into a shared experience.

Among the participants were Friar Álvaro Matías, from the Order of Saint Augustine, and Friar Willmer Moyetones, an Augustinian Recollect and Vicar of Peru for the Province of Saint Thomas of Villanova. Two religious from the same spiritual family who lived this encounter with deep emotion, and whose testimonies offer a glimpse into the more personal, fraternal dimension of this visit.

“May We Always Live in Unity”: A Song that Stirred Hearts

For Friar Álvaro Matías, one of the most moving moments came when everyone started singing together.

“When we started singing ‘May We Always Live in Unity,’ my heart skipped a beat,” recalls the Augustinian friar.

It wasn’t just a song. The voices of friars and sisters singing alongside the Holy Father expressed a fraternity that transcends different origins and diverse walks of consecrated life.

“Hearing so many friars and sisters singing with the Pope and seeing how, singing as one, we are one single family, the children of Saint Augustine,” shares Friar Álvaro, looking back on that moment.

The emotion continued when the time came to greet Leo XIV in person. The friar admits he was very nervous, but he carried something truly special with him: a message that the young people from Communio had written for the Holy Father.

“When I went up to greet him, I was really nervous, and I handed him the message from Communio that the kids wrote for him. I thanked him so much,” he shares.

In this way, those young people who couldn’t be there in person were still able to draw close to the Pope through words entrusted to one of their brothers. It was a small gesture reminding us that the bonds of the Augustinian Family reach far beyond those who can physically attend an encounter.

From Monteagudo to Lima: A Gift Filled with Prayer

Friar Willmer Moyetones also experienced that day with heartfelt emotion. For the Augustinian Recollect, meeting Leo XIV was a chance to personally share the deep affection of his fellow religious brothers.

“It was a moment of joy, of so much excitement,” recalls the Vicar of Peru for the Province of Saint Thomas of Villanova.

And Friar Willmer didn’t arrive empty-handed. From Monteagudo, in Navarre, he had traveled with a small image of Saint Ezekiel Moreno, the Augustinian Recollect bishop whose life was marked by missionary devotion and who is especially invoked by those battling cancer.

Monteagudo isn’t just any place for the Augustinian Recollects. Its friary is one of the Order’s most cherished novitiates; Friar Willmer once served as novice master there. For nearly two centuries, hundreds of friars have made their religious profession there before setting out as missionaries to different parts of the world, including Peru. Its walls hold the memory of generations of religious who left their homeland to proclaim the Gospel, carrying with them the spirituality of Saint Augustine.

From this place, so deeply tied to the missionary history of the Order, came the image that Friar Willmer wanted to present to the Holy Father in person.

When his turn came to greet him, he introduced himself as an Augustinian Recollect and handed him the image along with a letter. The gift carried something invisible to the eye, yet embodying its true meaning: the prayers of the Augustinian Recollects for the Pope.

“All of us Augustinian Recollects are praying through the intercession of Saint Ezekiel for his health,” Friar Willmer explains, recalling the meaning behind the gift.

Along with the image, the friar had also prepared a petition: that Saint Ezekiel Moreno might be recognized by the universal Church as an intercessor for those suffering from cancer. It’s a request born of devotion to the Augustinian Recollect saint and the desire to spread devotion and his intercession among the faithful.

The gesture carried special weight. That little image had journeyed thousands of miles from Monteagudo to Lima, symbolically carrying the closeness of so many religious who support the Successor of Peter with their prayers from their communities and ministries.

“That’s what I experienced, with so much emotion, with so much joy,” Friar Willmer sums up.

A Family that Sings, Prays, and Walks Together

The testimonies of Friar Álvaro and Friar Willmer reveal two sides of the same encounter: on one hand, the joy of singing together and recognizing one another as brothers and sisters; on the other, the simplicity of approaching the Pope to offer what a community holds most dear—its love and its prayers.

In these gestures, the spirituality of Saint Augustine finds a concrete expression of its ideal to live “with one heart and one soul on the way to God.” It’s an invitation that doesn’t just belong to the past, but continues to give meaning to the lives of those who share his charism across the globe.

In Lima, that ideal came alive in the voices of those singing together, in the message of young people who wanted their presence felt, and in a small image of Saint Ezekiel Moreno that traveled from Navarre straight into the hands of Leo XIV.

Two religious, two experiences, and one shared conviction: communion doesn’t stop at words; it’s built through the simple gestures of a family walking together.

And while Lima continues to carry its nickname “the Gray,” those who took part in this encounter will cherish the memory of a truly bright day. We don’t know if that light came from the yellow walls of the Nunciature, the brilliant white of the Holy Father’s vestments, or the sheer emotion of the reunion. Maybe what matters most is that, for a few moments, the Augustinian Family gathered once more around a brother whom they call Holy Father today, but whom they still embrace with that same lifelong warmth.