4 hours ago
2
Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!
Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.
Visit Suniway.ph to learn
Daphne Galvez - The Philippine Star
May 11, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Seeing then Robert Cardinal Prevost in deep thought and appearing anxious upon realizing he was to be elected pope, his seatmate Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle decided to perform his “first act of charity” for the then emerging leader of the Roman Catholic Church – by offering him a piece of candy.
At a press conference, Tagle recounted that when it became evident during the counting of the votes of the cardinal electors that Prevost was going to be elected, the future Leo XIV started breathing heavily.
Tagle offered Prevost a piece of candy, which he had brought inside the Sistine Chapel to munch on as he had expected proceedings to take a long time.
“Lagi ako may baong candy. Eh katabi ko nga si Cardinal Prevost. Noong humihinga na siya ng malalim, sabi ko, ‘Gusto mo ng candy?’ Sabi niya, ‘Sige bigyan mo ko ng isa.’ Sabi ko, ‘Yan ha. ‘Yan ang unang act of charity ko sa bagong santo papa (I always have candy. Cardinal Prevost was sitting next to me. When I heard him breathing heavily, I asked him ‘do you want some candy?’ And he said, ‘OK please give me one,’ and I said ‘that’s it, that’s my first act of charity for the Holy Father’),” Tagle recalled with a laugh.
Tagle said he also had candies in his pocket in the 2013 conclave, when he was playfully teased by a Colombian cardinal for unwrapping sweets in the Sistine Chapel. But that same cardinal ended up asking for one, too.
“In Italian he asked me what I brought to the Sistine Chapel. I said caramel candy, and he said ‘this little boy bringing candies in the Sistine Chapel.’ And I said, ‘sessions are very long here, so I would always get hungry.’ Then he asked, ‘do you have more? Please give me one,’” Tagle recalled with a chuckle.
Tagle also recalled how then Cardinal Prevost asked him questions about the procedures during conclave since it was the Filipino cardinal’s second time participating in one.
During the taking of secrecy vows before the conclave started, Prevost was seen right behind Tagle.
He then jokingly told Prevost that if he had any problem with the proceedings during conclave, he could change it now that he is pope.
“He has a humorous side, he has a sense of humor that he has a loud voice when he laughs,” Tagle said of Leo XIV.
Pope’s cook
Tagle also joked how he offered to be Pope Leo XIV’s cook as the latter decides on his appointees in the Roman Curia.
Tagle said he would retain his position in the dicastery appointed to him by the late Pope Francis until the new pope decides to appoint new officials of the Curia.
According to Tagle, he got a “communication” that the pope has confirmed all the individuals with positions with the Curia until “a new decision is made.”
When a pontiff dies, the heads of the offices of the dicasteries, also known as “prefects” of the Roman Curia, are vacated in order for the next pope to appoint the members of his cabinet.
“We wait for him to make the changes if he wants to make the changes,” he added.
Tagle said he told the pope that he can be his cook.
Tagle was appointed by Pope Francis as the pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization in 2022, a dicastery in the Roman Curia where the sitting pope is the prefect.
Tagle described Pope Leo XIV as “very human, very humble, but very discerning,” citing their working relationship as dicastery heads in the Roman Curia, or the central governing body of the Catholic Church.
He said both of them were often seen seated together at formal meetings as they were both designated as cardinal-bishops.
Tagle also mentioned that Prevost was not always serious, as the former recalled moments when they would joke with each other about getting coffee first thing in the morning.
“He is a very level-headed person. He’s not the kind of person who is guided by just impulses and reactions,” Tagle said.
Tagle, along with two other Filipino cardinals – Pablo Virgilio David and Jose Advincula – participated in the Conclave in the Vatican.
