Large family with 13-year-old in seminary and a baby named Leo touches pope’s heart

Thirteen-year-old Fernando Bejarano Calvo — the second of seven children — felt the desire to become a priest in preschool. “He started talking about the seminary when he was 6,” recalled his mother, Nerea Calvo.

At first, she thought it was just a passing childhood whim. “We thought he was saying it somewhat unconsciously,” she explained in a phone conversation with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. However, that early vocational fervor remained burning in his heart. In fifth grade, at the age of 9, he entered the minor seminary in Toledo, Spain.

“We neither pushed him nor held him back,” explained his father, also named Fernando. “It’s not our decision, it’s his,” he added.

This seminary isn’t very different from other schools, except that it operates as a boarding school and places great importance on spiritual life. Prayer marks the hours of the day, during which academic formation is also very important.

“They have their teachers, their school hours, and when school is over they have their time for prayer and various activities,” Nerea explained.

Fernando returns home one weekend a month and receives visits from his family every Sunday. “We talk to him every day. Even though they live at the seminary, obviously it’s not like the family suddenly disappears,” his father emphasized.

In any case, his mother doesn’t deny that the physical separation has an emotional cost: “It’s a kind of heartbreak, so to speak, that is both beautiful and difficult, but you share it with other families.”

At the seminary — which has just celebrated its 100th anniversary — they have found a support network among parents and formators. Nerea experiences it as a gift: “You don’t lose your son, you gain 40 more, and 40 more families.”

An unexpected gift during the papal audience

This family accompanied their son Fernando and 46 other young men from the minor seminary in Toledo to an audience with Pope Leo XIV at the Apostolic Palace on Feb. 28 — along with other families whose sons have also experienced an early vocation.

“We had been waiting for this moment for many months. We wanted to receive what the Holy Father had in store for the seminarians and also for the families who accompany them,” the boy’s father explained.

For the young men of St. Thomas Villanova Minor Seminary in Toledo, this pilgrimage was especially significant, as it coincided with the centenary celebration of the diocesan institution, whose patron saint, an Augustinian friar, holds a very special place in the heart of Pope Leo XIV.

At the end of the meeting, the pope greeted the family and held the youngest of the siblings, whom they had named Leo (León in Spanish) after the pope. Nerea’s husband, Fernando — to whom she has been married for 17 years — already had the name in mind. “I already had the name,” he said. “I hadn’t thought about it like some strategy. It was simply clear to me.”

The boy was born after a difficult pregnancy, which his mother offered for the Church, vocations, and the pontificate of the new pope.

“I was vomiting from Day 1 until the very last day. It was very difficult. I practically didn’t leave the house except to go to Mass. Very confined, very limited,” Nerea recounted.

The pope thanked them “for praying for the Church” and blessed the little boy in an unexpected gift that extended to their entire family.

Bishops, formators, seminarians, and family members from other Spanish seminaries — Alcalá de Henares and the Interdiocesan Seminary of Catalonia and Cartagena — participated in the audience.

Among them was the rector of the Conciliar Seminary of the Immaculate Conception and the Holy Children of the Diocese of Alcalá de Henares, Father Luis Eduardo Morona Alguacil, who shared with ACI Prensa that the meeting was “an experience of catholicity” and “a moment of great inner joy.”

Currently, the diocesan seminary he directs has seven seminarians, representing a diversity of ages and backgrounds. “There’s a bit of everything; there are young men, and then most are between 25 and 35 years old. Almost all of them have already had professional experience and university studies.” He indicated that all of them maintain a close connection with the Diocese of Alcalá de Henares, either by coming from its parishes or by having been mentored by diocesan priests.

‘A much-desired experience’

The trip to Rome had been long awaited. According to the rector, the audience had already been requested and granted during Pope Francis’ pontificate, but it could not take place due to the worsening of his illness. “It was at that time that he was already hospitalized and with a fairly advanced illness, and he was unable to receive us,” he recalled.

A year later, the meeting with Leo XIV finally took place. “It was an experience, as always when one goes to Rome, to be with the pope, an experience of catholicity, of savoring and experiencing the mystery of the Church and of being close to the successor of Peter,” he said.

Morona also highlighted the ecclesial communion dimension of the meeting, given the presence of several Spanish seminaries.

‘Deeply moved’

According to the rector, the seminarians returned “deeply moved by the depth and essence of what the pope told them.” The central theme of the papal address was the call to cultivate a supernatural vision of reality, especially during their formation.

“They were rereading the address and overjoyed to know that the pope prays for them,” explained the rector, who emphasized the impact that Leo XIV’s personal presence had on the seminarians.

After the address, the pope approached the different groups and listened to each one. “He is a man who listens; you can tell he is paying attention when you are speaking to him, that he is attentive to what you are saying. That is something that also surprised them,” Morona recounted. Several seminarians were able to give the pope personal letters and small gifts in an atmosphere he described as “a very beautiful sense of ecclesial communion.”

Ordinations in April and the visit to Spain

The audience took place at a particularly significant time for the seminary of Diocese of Alcalá de Henares, which is preparing for the ordination of several deacons. When the rector informed the pope, Leo XIV asked: “But before or after my visit to Spain?”

“He had his visit to Spain in mind; it’s something he must have in his heart and mind,” the rector noted.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.