CNN
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The Italian personal trainer spoke about his shock after studying his client for two years.
“Here in the gym, no one knew that Robert, now Leo XIV, was the cardinal who trained him,” Valerio Masera, 26, told the Italian newspaper Il Zagallo.
Il Zagargo reported that the pope, who was regularly trained at gyms near the Vatican, often exercises multiple times a week.
Masera suspected Jim’s reserved “Robert” was a professor or scholar. The clergy certainly had not appeared due to the session dressed in his cardiac Cassock, the trainer explained.
“He was dressed in informal clothes. But he was always kind and never tensed or annoyed. He was a truly calm and balanced person,” Masera said.
Not until Prevost stepped into the balcony at St.
Peter’s Cathedral as Pope Leo XIV, where Penny fell.
“I saw him on TV and I immediately recognized him. I couldn’t believe it,” Masera said. “Essentially, I trained future clergy. It’s incredible, but for me, he was another client and acted like every client in this gym,” he added.
How is he doing? “For a man of his age… exceptional,” Masera told an Italian paper. “With a great ratio of muscle mass, bone mass and fat mass, it’s typical of people who have never stopped playing sports.”
Jim’s president and founder Alessandro Tumburlani explained his excitement in another interview with the Catholic News Agency that he discovered he already knew the new Pope.
“My joy has doubled or tripled. After the obligatory period of mourning we have experienced, we can finally have a new holy father. And he is a good man and also to know what we all already knew here at Jim.”
The founder of the gym added that Pope Leo’s healthy lifestyle sets a good example for everyone and praised his ability to combine “spirituality and sports training.”
Pope Leo XIV, a famous boyfriend of tennis, met with world number one Jannik Sinner earlier this week. The Italian tennis star gave the clergy a racket. He may use it on the Vatican’s own tennis court.
The Chicago native is also a proud supporter of the White Sox baseball team.
