The information is revealed in the book The Shepherd and the Wolves, as reported by InfoVaticana. The book was written by Peruvian author Santiago Roncagliolo and is sympathetic toward Leo XIV.
Lute was investigated so poorly under Bishop Robert Prevost of Chiclayo that the case remained unresolved. After becoming Pope, Leo XIV granted Lute’s request for laicization in September 2025. This brought the canonical proceedings to an end, thus avoiding a guilty verdict.
Close Collaboration Between Prevost and Lute
In recounting the relationship between Bishop Prevost and Father Lute - at the time the diocese’s most popular priest and promoter of devotion to the Child of the Miracle of Eten - Roncagliolo writes:
“Fighting together brought the bishop and the priest very close. Father Lute informed him about everything he did. And Bishop Prevost was proud of his achievements. Lute presented five thousand testimonies from people healed, helped, or saved by the 'Child of the Miracle'. He obtained twenty thousand, which Prevost took to Pope Francis in 2019. At the same time, Prevost relied on Lute’s popularity to evangelize and create priestly vocations. Once he became Pope, he would bring a disciple of Lute, Edgard Rimaycuna, to the Holy See as his private secretary.”
Charismatic and popular priest
Father Lute was not just another parish priest. He was by far the most charismatic and popular priest in Lambayeque. He was an overwhelming personality, a man who filled churches and mobilized crowds. Families opened their homes to him without reservation.
According to InfoVaticana, evidence in the case includes an audio in which Lute acknowledged sexual acts during “missionary” journeys and overnight stays involving minor girls.
Lute encouraged many boys from his parishes to enter the seminary.
Edgard Rimaycuna was ordained a priest in Chiclayo in November 2014. He celebrated his first Mass at San José Obrero parish in La Victoria, the same parish environment where Lute had served as parish priest and where his alleged victims place some of the alleged abuse.
Picture: InfoVaticana, #newsQpsaxhxgnn