Pope Leo’s friend says the new pontiff ‘felt very much at home in Australia’

Sydneysider Tony Banks, a long time friend of Pope Leo XIV, said he was still coming to terms with calling the man he knows as ‘Bob’ as ‘His Holiness’.

Pope Leo XIV during a mass with cardinals in the Sistine Chapel. Picture: VATICAN MEDIA / AFP

Sydneysider Tony Banks, a long time friend of Pope Leo XIV, said he was still coming to terms with calling the man he knows as “Bob” and who beats him at tennis with a killer serve, as “His Holiness”.

Father Tony, the assistant general of the Order of St Augustine responsible for the Asia Pacific region and based in Rome for the past 12 years, said he was “hopeful” Pope Leo would visit Australia during the International Eucharistic Congress in Sydney in 2028.

Craftsman Gennaro Di Virgili paints the finishing touches of a statue of newly elected Pope Leo XIV at his shop in Naples. Picture: AFP

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has already announced that Australia will issue a formal invitation for the Pope to attend the congress.

Father Tony said “Bob” has been to Australia several times and that the pontiff had “felt very much at home in Australia and enjoyed being in our company”.

He said Pope Leo enjoyed driving from Brisbane to Sydney, enjoying the distances of the country, and that he had spent a lot of time with him when Pope Francis called him to the Vatican in the past three years to be the Prefect of the Dicastry for Bishops.

“When he came to Rome as a bishop he reverted to being an Augustinian in many ways: every morning we saw him at mess with us. He would have lunch with us, and we would have just run of the mill conversations, sometimes the conversation was a deep conversation, other times it was about the football,’’ Father Tony said.

During a press conference at Domus Australia in Rome, Father Tony admitted he hadn’t tried to contact Pope Leo since his election because he would be overloaded with messages at the moment.

Cardinal Mykola Bychok from Saints Peter and Paul Church in Melbourne. Photo: Jacquelin Magnay

Father Tony stood alongside Australia’s cardinal Mykola Bychok of the Saints Peter and Paul church in Melbourne, who was one of the 133 voting cardinals locked inside the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican grounds for two days unable to communicate with the outside world until a decision was made.

Cardinal Bychok, who at 45 was the youngest of the electors, said not having his phone for two days during the top secret conclave was “the best time of my life”.

“Just try to turn off your phone for at least 24 hours,” he added with a huge grin noting he had spent time more time praying than usual.

Cardinal Bychok said he felt at peace going into the Sistine Chapel to make the decision with the rest of the eligible College of Cardinals and laughed that the movie “Conclave” was not always an accurate depiction of what went on.

Father Banks said Pope Leo chose the papal name Leo XIV to honour Leo XIII and the document Rerum Novarum.