Pope Leo XIV has marveled at the “huge learning curve” he has taken on as pontiff and likened some aspects of the job to jumping “in on the deep end of the pool very quickly.” Those comments were contained in excerpts of an interview released Sunday on his 70th birthday. The interview was conducted by Vatican correspondent Elise Ann Allen for her forthcoming biography of Leo, whom she knew as a bishop in Peru. Excerpts were published Sunday on Allen’s Catholic news site Crux, and in the El Comercio daily of Peru.