Whiteville Pastor shares Seminary history With Pope Leo XIV

WHITEVILLE, NC (WWAY) — A Columbus County priest has a personal connection to the newly elected pope — one that began more than 30 years ago.

Father Fernando Meléndez is the pastor at Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church in Whiteville. He met Pope Leo XIV in the late 1980s while studying for the priesthood in Trujillo, Peru.

At the time, Pope Leo was known as Father Robert Prevost. He was one of Meléndez’s instructors at a seminary.

“He got on very well with seminarians,” Meléndez said. “He was very open, reliable, sympathetic — and he loved talking to everyone in person.”

Meléndez said Prevost also helped him improve his English.

“I was interested in learning English, and he helped me to make some conversations in English,” he said.

After being ordained, Meléndez continued his studies in Rome. He later returned to Peru to become a seminary professor himself.

In 2022, the two reconnected. Prevost, then the bishop of Chiclayo, invited Meléndez to teach at his seminary. Meléndez accepted the offer.

“He came every week to the seminary, and he played tennis,” Meléndez said. “He invited us to celebrate Masses in different churches and parishes. We were with him in many, many events.”

Meléndez says the Pope remains the same person he knew decades ago.

“I realized that he is himself — my teacher, whom I knew thirty years before — and he is the same,” he said. “Probably with white hair, but the same person: so nice, so welcoming, so concerned for the poor.”

Pope Leo XIV will preside over the Mass of Inauguration of his Petrine ministry this Sunday at 10 a.m. at St. Peter’s Square.