Pope Leo XIV Begins Six-Day Visit to Peru Amid El Niño Floods
The 71-year-old pontiff, who spent two decades as a missionary in the country, arrives for the final leg of his South American tour.
By Isaac Medina ·
Pope Leo XIV will land in Peru on Wednesday for a six-day visit that marks the final stop of his current South American journey.
The trip is the longest papal visit to the country in recent years and arrives as Peru declares a national emergency due to El Niño driven coastal flooding and heavy rains. Leo, who is 71 and recovered from lung cancer surgery last month, will travel to high-altitude locations including Cusco and the Amazonian town of Pucallpa. Organizers plan outdoor Masses in Lima and Chiclayo that could draw millions of attendees.
Leo, born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago, lived and worked in Peru for 20 years starting in the 1980s. He served as an Augustinian missionary in Trujillo during the civil war and later protested human rights abuses under President Alberto Fujimori in the 1990s. He was naturalized as a Peruvian citizen in 2015, a requirement for his appointment as bishop of Chiclayo.
The pope has integrated deeply into Peruvian culture, often speaking fluent Spanish and eating local dishes such as el frito, a pork breakfast from Chiclayo. In his first speech as pope, he referenced Chiclayo rather than Chicago. A 46-foot statue of Leo now stands in the port city of Callao, where he will visit on the final day of his trip. Vatican aide Edgard Rimaycuna, who was born in Chiclayo, is frequently by his side.
Local preparations include repainting church facades and mobilizing residents for the visit. The itinerary includes Zaña, a town of 14,000 that lacks a bank, hospital, and radio station. The Vatican selected Zaña because Leo previously oversaw the construction of a church school and a well there. Up to 300,000 people are expected to gather in the town, which serves communities often neglected by the central government.
Rev. Ramiro Castillo Castro, a Peruvian Augustinian who knew Leo during his missionary years, said the pope understood the local way of living the faith. "He became one of us," Castillo Castro said. John-Henry Westen, co-founder of LifeSite News, criticized the large statue in Callao, stating on social media that "Catholics do not worship popes."
Bishop Daniel Turley, who served with Leo in Peru, noted that the new pope helped with flood recovery efforts in the 1980s. The visit follows Leo's statement that he would root for Peru over the United States in a hypothetical World Cup match.
