(ZENIT News – La Bussola Quotidiana / Rome, June 29, 2025) – A few days ago, the new Pope received in audience his predecessor as head of the diocese of Chiclayo, Monsignor Jesus Moliné Labarta. The Spanish Bishop and missionary revealed Prevost’s close connection with a place of Eucharistic devotion. The Peruvian city of Eten is located within the boundaries of the diocese of Chiclayo and it is here where, according to tradition, the Divine Child appeared in the Blessed Sacrament on the occasion of the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, on June 2, 1649.
The Eucharistic miracle took place in a packed church, before the eyes of the parish priest and the Mayor. An event narrated in 44 pages preserved in the archives of the convent of the Franciscan Province. The scene is described thus: «It was a Child, from the waist up, with a human face and body, blond hair and purple clothing . . . The whole town repeated: «Miracle! Miracle!» On July 22 of that same year, the chronicles recounted a new miracle: Jesus reappeared in the Host before the Religious who had moved it to another tabernacle.
This is the only Eucharistic miracle recorded in Peru, of which more than 20,000 testimonies of faith have been collected. In 2019, it was the then Bishop Robert Francis Prevost of Chiclayo who sent them to Rome to his predecessor, Pope Francis. When he led the Peruvian diocese, he was the one who requested recognition of the Eucharistic miracle. But if these two extraordinary episodes, set in the 17th century and still relevant in the faith of Peruvians, are known throughout the world today, it is thanks to Blessed Carlo Acutis.
In fact, the future Saint, who died in 2006, included the miracle of Eten in his virtual exhibition. According to Monsignor Moliné Labarta, Prevost is not only the Bishop who requested official recognition of Eten, but he is also a great fan of devotion to the Child of the Miracle. It is assumed that his Eucharistic theology does not differ much from that of Acutis.
Moreover, the images of the recent Corpus Christi procession from St. John Lateran to St. Mary Major speak louder than words. The heat did not deter the Pope from walking the entire route, arms raised and the Monstrance in his hand, without having to change. Kneeling in prayer, Leo gave even more force to the message he gave on the occasion of the Solemnity: «In the Eucharist, between us and God, this is exactly what happens,» the Pontiff explained. «The Lord receives and sanctifies the bread and wine we place on the altar and transforms them into the Body and Blood of Christ, a sacrifice of love for the salvation of the world.»
