Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle looked back on the lighthearted moments he shared with Pope Leo XIV in the days leading up to his papacy.
At the recent papal conclave, Tagle recalled being seated beside then-Cardinal Prevost, to whom he offered a candy.
“Lagi akong may baong candy… Eh katabi ko nga si Cardinal Prevost. Nung humihinga-hinga na siya nang [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,’” Tagle shared.
He explained that he brought candies to the Sistine Chapel to stave off hunger during the long voting process of the conclave.
“I go back to 2013, […] nung nakita ko ‘yun (conclave), ganito pala kahaba. […] Nagdala ako ng candy para kung kumukulo ang tiyan mo, edi may candy.”
He recounted how, after eating one, a fellow cardinal beside him nudged him and jokingly asked in Italian why he had brought candy into the Sistine Chapel. That same cardinal later asked for one as well: “Meron ka pa bang isa? Bigyan mo nga ako,” Tagle said, laughing.
The memory stuck, and the Colombian cardinal would later remember Tagle as “the little boy with the candy.”
Tagle also shared how he comforted the Cardinal Deacon, who was nervous about announcing Pope Francis due to Parkinson’s. To calm him, he offered him candy as well.
He also recounted another story involving Pope Leo XIV. During the conclave, Leo asked him a question, and Tagle wrote his answer on a page of his prayer book.
“Sumagot ako, sinulat ko tapos pinasa ko sa kanya ‘yung sagot ko du’n sa tanong niya. Tapos binasa niya, tapos ginawa niya, pinunit niya ‘yung page kung saan ako sumulat. Edi ‘yung prayer book ko, kulang na ng isang page.”
To make up for it, Leo gave him his own prayer guide. “[Sabi niya,] ‘Oh, ’yan, palit tayo.’”
Later, after Leo XIV was elected pope, Tagle teased him: “You owe me something. Pirmahan mo ito. Pirmahan mo ito.”
“Sabi niya, ‘Ito ang aking first signature as pope.’ Tinago ko. Nasa akin. Hindi pa siya lumalabas,” Tagle said with a laugh.
He concluded by saying that these small moments reflect how little acts of kindness and humanity “can sustain someone called by God.”
