Pope Leo’s secretary linked to ex-priest accused of abusing young girls

VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — A new book revealed that Pope Leo XIV’s personal secretary was a follower of a Peruvian priest accused of sexually abusing girls as young as nine.

Edgard Rimaycuna, who has served as Leo XIV’s personal secretary since May 8, 2025, was once a “disciple” of Eleuterio Vásquez González, known as “Lute,” a former priest in the Diocese of Chiclayo accused by women of sexually abusing them when they were children, according to Peruvian journalist Santiago Roncagliolo’s new book El pastor y los lobos (The Shepherd and the Wolves).

In describing the relationship between then-Bishop Robert Prevost and Lute, Roncagliolo writes that the priest “informed him of everything he did” and that “Prevost was proud of his achievements.” The author adds that Prevost relied on Lute’s popularity for evangelization and vocations, and then stated that after he became Pope, Prevost “would take to the Holy See, as private secretary, a disciple of Lute, Edgard Rimaycuna.”

“The same Prevost who, as a bishop, instructed that case with an investigation defined by a canonist as a tomadura de pelo – a “mockery” – today, as pope, has as his first collaborator a disciple of that rapist priest, to whom he granted dispensation from the clerical state without any judicial procedure,” Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò commented on X.

“Administrative pardon takes the place of ascertaining the truth; friends are privileged and protected; victims are left without justice. In the place of those who should oppose inequity, the network that protected it is taking office. Those who remain silent about this contradiction ratify injustice,” Viganò concluded.

The passage places Rimaycuna within the vocational and pastoral circle surrounding Lute, who had been one of the most prominent and popular priests in the Diocese of Chiclayo.

READ: Abuse victim requests meeting with Pope Leo over his handling of her case in Peru

The book’s revelation comes amid an unresolved canonical case concerning Lute. According to InfoVaticana, women who say they were abused as children told Prevost in April 2022 that Lute took girls between nine and 11 years old to remote communities in the mountains of Lambayeque, Peru, where they allegedly spent nights alone with him. One alleged victim, Ana María Quispe Díaz, also told Canal N that Lute had been close to her family and that his status as a priest enabled him to persuade her parents to let her accompany him on a mission several hours from Chiclayo.

The investigation conducted while Prevost was bishop has subsequently been criticized by a Church-appointed canonist. Giampiero Gambaro, the ecclesiastical delegate involved in the case, reportedly told the victims on April 23, 2025, that the investigation had been “a joke,” was badly conducted and superficial, and contained numerous errors.

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith later closed the file, citing the statute of limitations under Peruvian civil law. Gambaro described that justification as “very strange” since this is not consistent with canon law.

Roncagliolo’s account is particularly notable because the book is not presented as an attack on Leo XIV.

The author describes the rise of Robert Prevost to the papacy and portrays him as a bishop who confronted abuse within the Peruvian Church. One of Roncagliolo’s principal sources is journalist Paola Ugaz, a close collaborator of Prevost during his investigation of the Sodalicio movement, which was suppressed by Pope Francis in 2025 following an investigation into allegations of abuse and financial corruption.

Rimaycuna, born in Chiclayo in 1989, was ordained a priest in November 2014. He celebrated his first Mass at San José Obrero parish in La Victoria, an area also associated with allegations made against Lute. Leo XIV appointed Rimaycuna as his personal secretary immediately after his election and named him a Chaplain of His Holiness in November 2025, making him a member of the Pontifical Household.

The new disclosure does not accuse Rimaycuna of participating in, witnessing, or concealing any abuse. Furthermore, it does not provide evidence that he knew of the allegations against Lute at the time or that he had any involvement in the handling of the subsequent investigation.

However, the revelation adds a previously unreported personal connection to a case that remains unresolved: the Pope’s first secretary was formed within the pastoral and vocational environment of a priest whose alleged abuse was later reported to Prevost while he was bishop of Chiclayo, and questions remain about how that case was investigated and ultimately closed.

Rimaycuna is not the only prelate in the Vatican who can be linked — at least indirectly — to South American circles of abuse that remained obscure and poorly handled.

Venezuelan Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, former Substitute of the Secretary of State under Pope Francis and Nuncio to Italy since March 30, 2026, is surrounded by longstanding accusations of alleged abuse of seminarians and other unresolved scandals. Vatican authorities have ignored those allegations. According to Viganò, Peña Parra cultivated a strong network of protection and influence, reinforcing his position despite these accusations.