Papst Leo XIV. läuft in die Audienzhalle im Vatikan
Picture: © KNA/Vatican Media/Romano Siciliani  (Archivbild)
"There are still a lot of lessons to be learnt"

Waiting for the Pope: Leo XIV is often unpunctual

Vatikanstadt - A pope's schedule is tight - especially when he is new in office and many important people want to meet him. In the case of Pope Leo XIV, this repeatedly leads to unpunctuality - and apologies from the head of the church.

Published  on 07.06.2025 at 18:21  – 

Leo XIV is the first pope to wear a smart watch on his wrist. But that obviously doesn't protect him from repeatedly being late for appointments. On Saturday, it was that time again: after several audiences in the morning, he arrived several minutes late for an agreed meeting with theologians and clergy from East and West in the "Sala Clementina" in the Vatican at around midday.

Accordingly, he added to the opening of his planned speech with the words: "I would like to apologise for the slight delay." He asked those present to bear with him: "I have been in office for less than a month and so there is still a lot to learn."

Apparently too busy a programme for the Pope

It was a similar story three days earlier. The Pope was late for a meeting with the "National Italian American Foundation", which is mainly made up of Americans with Italian roots. The Pope blamed the organisation in the Vatican and said: "Please excuse the delay, but the Vatican programme has scheduled several audiences at the same time, and afterwards I also have to hold the general audience in St Peter's Square."

Papst Leo XIV. im Gespräch mit seinem Privatsekretär Edgard Ivan Rimaycuna Inga
Bild: ©KNA/Alessia Giuliani/CPP

Still having to learn how to organise and coordinate papal appointments: Pope Leo XIV and his private secretary Edgard Ivan Rimaycuna Inga.

The Pope, who had been elected just four days earlier, made his first prominent delay on 12 May. He arrived for his meeting with several thousand international media representatives in the Vatican audience hall more than five minutes after the scheduled time.

Waiting for Pope Leo

Two days later, on 14 May, numerous representatives of the Eastern Catholic Churches had to wait a good fifteen minutes for Pope Leo in the same place. He had previously met the world number one tennis player Jannik Sinner in the adjoining rooms of the audience hall - which apparently disrupted the morning's schedule.

The rather young papal private secretary, Edgard Ivan Rimaycuna Inga (36), is apparently also learning how to organise appointments. The cleric, who comes from the rural Peruvian diocese of Chiclayo, has to coordinate with several authorities when organising the overflowing papal diary. These include the Regent of the Papal Household, Prelate Leonardo Sapienza, as well as employees of the Vatican Secretariat of State. (KNA)