Is called Edgard Iván Rimaycuna Inga, He is 36 years old, he is Peruvian and will be the particular secretary of Pope Leone XIV who had it at his side even when he was a prefect of the dicastery for the bishops.
Father Edgar has already accompanied the Pope in his first release in Sanctuary of the mother of the good advice of Genazzano and then to Santa Maria Maggiore last May 10th. The friendship between Leone XIV and Rimaycuna dates back to 2006, when the young man after the degree achieved in 2005 at the Colegio Nacional San Jose de Chiclayo entered the major seminary Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo. In those times Prevost was a prior general of the Augustinians, but maintained strong contacts with Peru, Where he had already been a missionary first from 1985 to 1987 and then from 1988 to 1999. Prevost became the mentor of Rimaycuna and was fundamental for his vocation. When Prevost in 2014 returned to Peru, in Chiclayo, first as an apostolic administrator and then as a bishop of the diocese, he needed a secretary, and Rimaycuna began to collaborate with him. He remained alongside the current Pope until 2017, when he moved to Rome to continue his studies at the Pontifical Biblical Institute. The two have never lost contacts.
When Pope Francis called Prevost in 2023 as a prefect of the Dicastery of Bishops, Prevost recalled the young priest alongside himbringing him to Rome from Manassena, Liguria, where he had settled for about a year. In October, he was in the capital, called to manage the agenda of the new prefect. And Don Edgar expressed his gratitude through a post on social media, writing: «Thank you very much, Monsignor Robert Prevost, for everything, for allowing me to work alongside him, but above all for his friendship and trust. Before my bishop, my friend. Have a nice trip and a big hug! Oremus ad invicem ».
Rimaycuna was a discreet presence in these two years alongside the future pontiff. He managed the appointments, but was also “protected” by his teacher and mentor, who has always addressed delicate issues firsthand. A sort of “shadow man”, capable of supporting his mentor in times of difficulty, without ever rising to the role of protagonist. Until the exit in Genazzano, few also knew the name or existence of the particular secretary of Leone XIV. The choice of Don Edgard as his personal secretary further confirms the strong bond of Pope Leo XIV with the South American country, as the Peruvian media have recalled by commenting on the news.
The figure of the Pope’s personal secretary has become a custom starting from 1903. It is a delicate role that provides for daily assistance to the pontiff in the management of the agenda and in the organization of his ordinary activity, ensuring that everything proceeds in order and efficiency. In the recent past, the secretaries of the Popes played a crucial role and were well known by public opinion.
This is the case of Stanisław Dziwisz, who was the personal secretary and “shadow man” of John Paul II throughout the pontificate, from the election in 1978 to death in 2005. Monsignor also played a first plane role Georg Gänswein, Particular secretary of Benedict XVI both during the pontificate and after his renunciation until his death, which took place in the monastery Mater Ecclesiae in the Vatican on 31 December 2022. Now he is no longer in Rome because since June of last year he has been appointed by Pope Francis Nuncio Apostolic in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
The figure of the Pope’s particular secretary has changed with Pope Francis, who had the custom of making the closest collaborators “rotate”. In the last years of his life, Bergoglio made use of the help of three secretaries: the Argentines Don Juan Cruz Villalón and Don Manuel Pellizzon and Don Fabio Salerno. But during the pontificate he changed seven particular secretaries in twelve years. The Maltese Don Alfred Xuereb, Which was next to him at the beginning, he was intended for the nunciatures of Korea, Mongolia and Morocco. In addition to him, they took turns in the service of Bergoglio L’Argentino Fabian Pedacchio Leanizthe Coptic Rite Egyptian Yoannis Lahzi Gaid, the Uruguayan Gonzalo Aemilius. Some collaborators Francesco had taken them from pontifical diplomacy or Vatican dicasteries, others from their dioceses. None of them had the entirety of the functions performed instead in other pontificates by the secretaries. A choice of Francesco to avoid concentrating in the hands of a single person too much power.
