In what must be the week's best fun news story, we learn that the new pope, Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost, is a fitness fanatic.
His personal trainer and the founder of his gym had details for the Italian press about how then-Cardinal Prevost worked out at their local gym in Rome, running on the cardio machines and bench pressing like anyone else in his plain gym clothes, putting in those hours to keep himself fit, sound mind, sound spirit, sound body, in a piece since picked up by Catholic News Agency:
The then-Cardinal Prevost — who, as is well known, is also a tennis player — spent his free time on the cardio machines, his favorite exercise. He sometimes also used the stationary bikes and treadmills designed to improve cardiovascular endurance and burn calories.
“He was a person like so many other members. He dressed like everyone else, in simple gym clothes. He was often accompanied by his assistant so he could work out,” he related.
[Omega Gym founder and president, Alessandro] Tamburlani didn’t hide his enthusiasm when he noted that having an athletic pope really showcases the need to lead a healthy life. “He’s a shining light that allows us all to say that, if he can do it, we can all manage to take care of ourselves and exercise,” he pointed out.
So in other words, he was just a dude, going to the gym to keep fit, same as millions of others do.
CNN reported that his actual trainer, 26-year-old Valeria Masselo, had no idea the guy he was training was a priest, let alone a cardinal, and much less a future pope:
An Italian personal trainer has spoken of his shock after learning his client for two years had been elected to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics as Pope.
“Here in the gym, no one knew that Robert, now Leo XIV, was a cardinal, least of all me who trained him,” Valerio Masella, 26, told the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero.
The Pope, then Cardinal Robert Prevost, trained regularly in the gym near the Vatican, Il Messaggero reported, often working out multiple times a week.
Masella had suspected the reserved ‘Robert’ from the gym was a professor or an academic. The clergyman certainly wasn’t turning up for a session dressed in his cardinal cassock, the trainer explained.
“He came in informal clothes. However, he was always kind, never nervous or irritated. A truly serene and balanced person,” Masella said.
It wasn’t until Prevost stepped out on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica as Pope Leo XIV that the penny dropped.
“Seeing him on TV, I recognized him immediately. I couldn’t believe it,” Masella said. “Basically, I trained the future pontiff: it’s incredible, but for me, he was a client like any other, and he behaved like all the clients of this gym,” he added.
As for his physical condition? “For a man of his age…exceptional,” Masella told the Italian paper. “Typical of someone who has never stopped playing sports, with an excellent ratio of muscle mass, bone mass, and fat mass.”
Sounds pretty MAHA to me. Maybe Bobby Kennedy should be at that papal inaugural Mass on Sunday, along with Marco Rubio and J.D. Vance, too. The new pope would probably click with him.
And yes, Pope Leo XIV probably will influence many to get to the gym for the workouts they've been putting off. Who wouldn't like to have the nice result the pope has, all fit and calm, with the many hours of trainings under his belt showing their results? If the pope can find time to hit the gym, so can anyone else.
Pope John Paul II also had that quality, too, and he liked to keep fit with skiing.
It's all good, even if one isn't Catholic or religious. Everyone get into shape.
The Italian gym founder viewed fitness as linked to spirituality in his closing statement to Catholic News Agency, though:
He said Leo XIV’s lifestyle can be a model for all: “In the modern life we lead, always in a hurry, too busy for our own good, he invites us to be aware of our bodies and begin to take control of them, guiding them toward an excellent experience that combines spirituality and sports training.”
The new pope may not be as conservative as President Trump, though I doubt he's a leftist. He is, however, all MAHA, or better still MWHA, meaning, make the world healthy again.
Image: Pixabay, via Stockvault // CC0 public domain