Pope Leo XIV made a Surprise Visit to Wish a Happy Birthday to the Augustinian Prior General - VIDEO

Following the Mass for the Jubilee of families, children, grandparents and the elderly, on June 1, the Pope made a surprise visit to the nearby Santa Monica International College. He joined the Augustinians for lunch to celebrate the 70th birthday of Father Alejandro Moral, the prior, and his long-time friend.

Pope Leo XIV had lunch with his Augustinian brothers at the Santa Monica International College, a few meters from his apartment in the Vatican. The Pontiff reached the religious community, in Via Paolo VI, where students of the Order of St. Augustine from various countries of the world and some teachers of the Augustinianum Patristic Institute live, to take part in a joyous moment organized to celebrate the 70th birthday of the prior general, Father Alejandro Moral.

A long-standing friendship binds the Pope and Father Alejandro, born in La Vid, Spain, on June 1, 1955. The two met in the 1980s in Rome, at the Santa Monica College, when they were studying Provost Canon Law at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas and Moral Sacred Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute and Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University. Their paths separated in 1985, when the young Father Robert, ordained a priest in 1982, was sent to the Augustinian mission of Chulucanas, in Piura, Peru, while Father Alejandro, having completed his studies, returned to Spain. The two religious men met again in Rome in 2001, for the chapter of the Augustinian Order.
Elected prior general, Prevost chose Moral as his vicar, confirming him also in his second term. For 12 years they worked side by side and their friendship grew and strengthened. A fraternal bond that persisted even when their paths diverged again. In 2013, at the end of his second six-year term at the helm of the Order of Saint Augustine, Prevost returned to his Augustinian Province, in Chicago, while Moral was designated the 97th prior general. And if a year later Father Robert was appointed by Pope Francis as apostolic administrator of the diocese of Chiclayo, in Peru, and later bishop of the same, the Augustinian affection remained with Father Alejandro, that friendship so praised by the great Father of the Church who loved common life in “unity of mind and heart” (Rule), “to seek God together, in full harmony”, so that whoever “had found the truth first” could “lead others to it without effort” Solil. 1, 12, 20-13, 22.

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Text Vatican News IT - Translation