Pope Leo XIV Begins 6-Day Peru Homecoming as Millions Gather Across Adopted Homeland
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Nov 11
Pope Leo XIV Begins 6-Day Peru Homecoming as Millions Gather Across Adopted Homeland
3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Nov 11
Summary
Peru is staging Pope Leo XIV’s longest visit to a country of its size — six days across Lima, Chiclayo, Cusco and other stops — in a trip expected to draw the biggest crowds of his papacy.
Millions are mobilizing because Leo is returning not just as pontiff but as a naturalized Peruvian who spent about 20 formative years there as a missionary and bishop, speaking fluent Spanish and openly identifying with Chiclayo.
The homecoming also tests logistics: Peru is under a national emergency from El Niño-driven flooding, while the 71-year-old pope, fresh from lung cancer surgery last month, is due to travel from the Amazon to high-altitude Cusco.
Remote mountain visits Leo wanted were dropped as too risky, so organizers shifted one major gathering to Zaña, a town of 14,000 that is preparing for more than 300,000 pilgrims.
The trip, coming before any papal visit to the United States, is set to reinforce Leo’s image as a global pope shaped by Peru’s popular Catholicism, disaster response and 1990s pro-democracy activism.