When a well-known Traditional priest recently observed that “Leo boldly goes where no Catholic has gone before,” while true, it was definitely not a compliment.
According to InfoVaticana, a new book is causing the storm clouds of yet another scandal to gather, one that has Leo at the center of it.
The story begins in Chiclayo, the northern Peruvian diocese that shaped both Robert Prevost’s episcopacy and Edgard Rimaycuna’s priesthood. It connects the two men to the controversial Peruvian priest Eleuterio Vásquez González — widely known as “Father Lute.”
Rimaycuna is Leo XIV’s private secretary, whom, allegedly, he asked to join him in the Vatican because the young man was “pining” for his mentor after having served as his assistant in Peru.
The connection between the three men is revealed in El pastor y los lobos (The Shepherd and the Wolves), Santiago Roncagliolo’s 2026 book examining Prevost’s record of confronting abuse within the Peruvian Church.
Roncagliolo’s account introduces a previously little-known but significant detail. In the book, he describes Rimaycuna, now the Pope’s closest day-to-day collaborator, as “a disciple of Lute.”
While this description by no means implies any wrongdoing by Rimaycuna, it does illuminate an intriguing ecclesiastical network stretching from the parishes of Chiclayo to the papal household and raises fresh questions about the relationships surrounding the controversial abuse case involving Lute. Peruvian priest Msgr. Ricardo Coronado-Arrascue has previously spoken with Integrity Magazine about his knowledge of the situation.
Before the allegations against Vásquez became public, “Father Lute” was a prominent figure in Chiclayo who was closely associated with devotion to the Divino Niño del Milagro Eucarístico in Ciudad Eten, as well as efforts to build a major Eucharistic sanctuary there.
According to reports, Prevost and Lute worked together and the Peruvian Episcopal Conference reported that the Diocese of Chiclayo, under Prevost, was working with a brotherhood headed by Lute on the sanctuary project. Another account described a major celebration during which a Mass was celebrated by Prevost and Lute together.
Per Roncagliolo’s book, “Father Lute informed him [Prevost] of everything he did,” and “Bishop Prevost was proud of his accomplishments.”
Elsewhere in the book, Roncagliolo says that Prevost relied upon Lute’s popularity “to evangelize and create priestly vocations,” making the sensational statement that: “Already as pope, he would take to the Holy See, as private secretary, a disciple of Lute, Edgard Rimaycuna.”
This sentence connects all three men.
The Dispatch
Who is Fr. Edgard Rimaycuna?
Rimaycuna was born in Chiclayo in 1989 and ordained in November 2014. He served as a parochial vicar at Chiclayo Cathedral before studying at Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute.
InfoVaticana reports that Prevost has been described as Rimaycuna’s teacher and spiritual director, with their relationship beginning during Rimaycuna’s seminary formation. Msgr. Coronado-Arrascue made similar remarks during a recent appearance on the Integrity Magazine podcast.
When Prevost moved to Rome after becoming prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops in 2023, Rimaycuna soon found his was to Italy. Following Prevost’s election as Leo XIV in May 2025, Rimaycuna became his private secretary. Later that year, Prevost made him a Chaplain of His Holiness, formally incorporating him into the Pontifical Family.
Connecting the dots, we see that Lute was an influential Chiclayo priest associated with promoting vocations. In his book, Roncagliolo identifies Rimaycuna as his disciple, with Prevost acting as Rimaycuna’s spiritual mentor. Rimaycuna eventually follows Prevost to the center of the universal Church in Rome.
Under normal circumstances, these connections would have been insignificant to the point of being mundane. But they gained dramatic importance after three women approached the Diocese of Chiclayo in April 2022, accusing Lute of sexually abusing them when they were minors. Multiple American media networks reported on the allegations after the 2025 conclave, though hardly any Traditional Catholic outlets followed up on them outside of Kokx News.
According to the diocese, Prevost received the women personally, initiated a preliminary canonical investigation, imposed restrictions on Vásquez, and forwarded the case to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. Vásquez eventually denied committing the alleged acts.
The complainants, however, have challenged the adequacy of the investigation and accused Church authorities of failing to establish fully what happened. According to the Associated Press, one survivor, Ana María Quispe Díaz, accused the future pope of failing to investigate her case properly and questioned the Vatican’s claims that proper procedures had been followed. Coronado-Arrascue had briefly served as her canon lawyer and has vouched for her side of the story while maintaining that Lute’s “restrictions” were not stringent.
Vásquez subsequently requested a dispensation from clerical duties, which was granted by the Vatican in September 2025. The controversy remained, however. On the one hand, the authorities insist that Prevost followed proper procedure; on the other, the victims maintain that the investigation was inadequate and that Lute was allowed to walk free without consequences due to his relationship with Leo.
While proximity does not prove complicity, it is important to remember who the actors are in this latest episode of the Synodal soap opera.
A priest later accused of abuse, a young cleric described as his disciple, and the bishop who became pope are all embroiled in an apparent network that now reaches into the Apostolic Palace.
Whatever the answers to these questions may be, it does seem that Peru is increasingly haunting Robert Prevost.
