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LIMA, Peru: Pope Leo XIV declared Peru his \u201chomeland\u201d on Wednesday as he arrived in Lima at the start of his historic visit, returning to the place that taught him how to be a pastor and where a nationwide party erupted to welcome the beloved \u201cPadre Robert\u201d home.<\/p>\n
Leo seemed genuinely moved as he emerged from his Aerolineas Argentinas charter plane, smiling broadly at nearly every turn of his first moments on Peruvian soil. The Vatican estimated that some 3 million people lined Leo\u2019s kilometers-long motorcade route into town, waving Peruvian and Holy See flags.<\/p>\n
Some in the roaring crowds broke through the tight security to chase behind the car that transported him to the presidential palace, where Leo met privately with Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori. During the formal welcome ceremony in the palace courtyard, he sang the Peruvian national anthem alongside Fujimori and a children\u2019s choir.<\/p>\n
In his first remarks to Fujimori and government officials, the Chicago-born Leo said the Peruvian citizenship he acquired in 2015 cemented a bond that began long before, crediting Peruvians with having formed him as a pastor by sharing their lives, joys and struggles with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday I understand how much of this land remains with me and how much of my own story also belongs to you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is why I can tell you, with deep gratitude, that I am also returning to my homeland,\u201d he said to applause.<\/p>\n
The visit to Peru marked the final leg of Leo\u2019s three-nation South America tour and its emotional highlight, given the more than two decades that the former Robert Prevost spent in Peru as a missionary priest and later bishop. He has said it was here that he learned \u201cwhat it means to be a shepherd.\u201d As a dual citizen of the United States and Peru, he\u2019s the first pope from each country.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe love him so much because he\u2019s worked here, he knows our sufferings, he knows it all,\u201d said 85-year-old Evelina Cruz, who held a pope plush doll made by her niece as she waited for Leo to arrive.<\/p>\n
Elation over the pope\u2019s return felt across Peru<\/strong><\/p>\n In preparation for the pope\u2019s visit, a huge 46-foot (14-meter) statue of the pontiff was unveiled in the port of El Callao. Baristas in Lima, the capital, were offering cappuccinos decorated with the image of the pope.<\/p>\n \u201cMy heart is so excited that it makes me want to cry with joy,\u201d said Zuly Castillo, who served as Leo\u2019s secretary when he was bishop of the northern city of Chiclayo near the Pacific Coast.<\/p>\n Gustavo Morello, an associate professor of sociology at Boston College and the author of \u201cLived Religion in Latin America,\u201d said the trip was a \u201creturn to his origins, without any doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPeru is the crown of the trip, the homecoming of the first Peruvian pope, no matter where he was born,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n With hands raised and voices lifted in song, hundreds awaited the pope\u2019s arrival in Lima in front of the presidential palace. \u201cLong live Christ!\u201d the crowd sang, following a Catholic choir on the stage.<\/p>\n Popemania also hit Chiclayo, where Leo arrives on Friday. Leo is painted in colorful murals, emblazoned on T-shirts, baseball hats and even bobblehead dolls.<\/p>\n Over the coming days, Leo will celebrate Mass in all his old stomping grounds including at the nearby sanctuary of St. Turibius of Mogrovejo in Za\u00f1a, a city that is a hub of Afro-Peruvian culture, and where the pope often visited to pray to the saint of his devotion.<\/p>\n Since Leo knows his adopted country so well, his speeches will be closely watched, especially one he\u2019ll deliver from the square in front of Lima\u2019s cathedral Thursday \u201con the challenges and hopes for the future of the Peruvian people.\u201d<\/p>\n Peru hit by poverty and political instability<\/strong><\/p>\n Peru, a nation of 34 million people, is overwhelmed by challenges, among them the looming arrival of nature\u2019s chaotic climatic agent El Ni\u00f1o, violent crime and income inequality. In 2025, 25.7 percent of the Peruvian population was living in monetary poverty.<\/p>\n \u201cA small elite has GDP levels comparable to some US states,\u201d Morello said, adding that while the macroeconomy \u201cis doing well, most Peruvians live in structural poverty and economic insecurity.\u201d<\/p>\n While the country is no longer experiencing the terror of the Shining Path rebel movement of the 1980s and 1990s, when Leo was a young Augustinian missionary, it is undergoing a wave of violence and insecurity.<\/p>\n \u201cHis return, now as pope, inspires great hope among a large segment of Peruvian society that still perceives and feels the abandonment of the state,\u201d said Rolando P\u00e9rez, a professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru.<\/p>\n \u201cDeeply etched in the public consciousness is the image of a shepherd who stood by the people, helping to bring into the public agenda their demands and their cry for justice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Honoring Indigenous peoples in the Amazon and threats of flooding<\/strong><\/p>\n The pope will honor Peru\u2019s Indigenous peoples by traveling to Pucallpa, in Peru\u2019s Amazon, to celebrate Mass. Illegal gold mining and the cultivation of coca leaves, the raw material used to produce cocaine, are affecting Peru\u2019s Indigenous peoples.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Amazon is a place where critical issues affecting development \u2014 such as the environmental crisis, the exclusion of Indigenous peoples, various forms of violence, and extreme poverty \u2014 all intersect,\u201d said P\u00e9rez.<\/p>\n Leo will also meet with popular groups of faithful and representatives of local traditions in Cusco \u2014 the capital of the Inca empire, an important city of Spanish colonial rule and an important cultural destination, including the nearby ruins at Machu Picchu.<\/p>\n The pope will celebrate Mass in Cusco\u2019s main square, where in 1781 the Indigenous hero T\u00fapac Amaru II was killed following the most significant rebellion against the Spanish during the colonial era.<\/p>\n Calls for answers to Peru\u2019s problems<\/strong><\/p>\n The conservative Fujimori came to power in July on promises of restoring order to a nation plagued by extortion and homicide, which have nearly doubled, reaching 10.7 per 100,000 inhabitants \u2014 up from 5.8 five years ago.<\/p>\n Alonso C\u00e1rdenas, a political science professor at the Antonio Ruiz de Montoya University, said Peruvians will welcome the pope at a time when many feel disappointed with authorities following a decade of political instability that has seen a revolving door of nine presidents since July 2016. Many Peruvians are also battered by rising insecurity and the increasing cost of food.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no sign of a reaction, no strategy,\u201d from Fujimori\u2019s government, he said.<\/p>\n As a result, many hope for a message from Leo that will prompt a response from those in power.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a profound sense of weariness regarding politics and corruption,\u201d said V\u00e9ronique Lecaros, head of the department of theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru.<\/p>\n In contrast, she said the Catholic Church enjoys a level of credibility that surpasses any other Peruvian institution.<\/p>\n Huge crowds are expected to turn out to welcome Leo home, even though Peru has seen Catholicism fall in recent years. According to the Pew Research Center, the Catholic population was at 76 percent in 2013-2014, but now stands at around 67 percent.<\/p>\n That stands in line with trends around the world where many continue to join the growing ranks of the religiously unaffiliated, or \u201cnones.\u201d But Lecaros says this doesn\u2019t mean Peruvians have lost their faith, and most still consider themselves to be religious.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ll listen to the pope, and some inspired by his example, will renew their interest in the church,\u201d she said. \u201cIn the end though, it will depend on how Catholic lay and clerical leaders choose to behave.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n