The Pope Returns To Peru, His Adopted Homeland

Faced with the violence, the faithful expect more than just a reunion.

Pope Leo XIV arrived in Peru on Wednesday, a country that is particularly dear to him as he lived there for almost twenty years, the last stop on an intense tour of South America after Uruguay and Argentina.

The American pontiff, who also holds Peruvian citizenship, landed in the afternoon at the Callao air base near Lima. A Vatican flag and a Peruvian flag were flying from the cockpit windows of the papal plane.

Having recently undergone surgery to remove a cancerous tumor, the 71-year-old head of the Catholic Church will be making a series of visits, masses and meetings across the country until Monday, from the arid north to the Andes, passing through the Amazon.

Among the faithful gathered in the Breña neighborhood, along the route the Popemobile will take, Mateo Flores, a 68-year-old electrician wearing a T-shirt bearing the pontiff’s image, rejoiced at Robert Prevost’s return. “The Pope isn’t coming, he’s coming home. The Pope is part of Peru,” he told AFP. “He’s coming to visit his people, to be with them,” he added. 

“Leon, our friend, Peru is with you!”

Outside the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, the faithful began to flock early, waving Vatican flags and plush toys representing the pontiff, shouting “Leon our friend, Peru is with you!”

From here, Leo XIV will begin his journey in the popemobile to the presidential palace, where he is to meet with Keiko Fujimori, before a speech to the authorities and civil society at the Grand National Theatre.

Beyond the fervor sparked by his return, some faithful hope for a message of comfort in a country plagued by crime and extortion. “We want him to spread his blessings over our country, which is going through an emergency situation due to crime, contract killings, and insecurity,” explains Martha Cruz, a 56-year-old accountant who came with her mother-in-law.

Between 2018 and 2025, the number of homicides in Peru increased from 1,000 to 2,600 per year, while extortion complaints jumped from 3,200 to 26,500, according to police data.

The Pope deeply marked by his years in Peru

Adding to this insecurity is chronic political instability: Keiko Fujimori, who came to power at the end of July, is the country’s ninth leader in ten years. The daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori, whose legacy she claims, she is at the head of a country still marked by human rights violations committed under her father’s regime (1990-2000).

The Pope was deeply affected by his years in Peru, a country whose nationality he acquired in 2015. There he witnessed poverty firsthand, repeatedly criticized the authorities, and defended the environment.

In Argentina, Leo XIV aroused immense enthusiasm and brought together more than 3 million people in the morning, according to local authorities, for his last mass in Luján, the country’s main pilgrimage site.

After Lima, Leo XIV will travel on Friday and Saturday to Chiclayo, a city in the north of the country where he served as bishop for nearly eight years, between 2015 and 2023. In the main square of the city of 600,000 inhabitants, huge letters proclaim the city “city of Pope Leo XIV”. 

The leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics will celebrate Mass in the pampas of Pimentel, a vast arid expanse bordering the Pacific, about fifteen kilometers from Chiclayo, where 1.5 million faithful are expected, according to the local bishopric.

On Sunday, he will travel to Cusco, the former Inca capital located in the Andes at an altitude of 3,400 meters, and then in the afternoon to Pucallpa, in the Amazon, where he will meet with representatives of indigenous communities.