CNN  — 

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.”

The gym’s president and founder, Alessandro Tamburlani, described his excitement upon discovering he already knew the new pontiff, in a separate interview with the Catholic News Agency.

“My joy was doubled or tripled. Joy to finally have a new Holy Father after the obligatory period of mourning we went through. And joy also to know that he’s a good person and, moreover, someone we all already knew here at the gym,” Tamburlani, founder of the Omega Fitness Club in central Rome said.

The gym founder added that Pope Leo’s healthy lifestyle sets a good example for all, and praised his ability to combine “spirituality and sports training.”

A known lover of tennis, Pope Leo XIV met with the world No. 1 Jannik Sinner earlier this week. The Italian tennis star gifted the pontiff a racket, which he might put to use on the Vatican’s own tennis court.

The Chicago native is also a proud supporter of the White Sox baseball team, the Pope’s brother John Prevost revealed in an interview with CNN.