Pope Leo XIV Returns to Chiclayo, His Former Diocese
The pope urged Catholics to strengthen parish councils and charitable work as more than 1 million people welcomed their former bishop, officials said.
- On Friday, Pope Leo returned to Chiclayo, Peru, visiting his former diocese for the first time since his election as pontiff. Crowds welcomed him at the airport, remembering the leader who spent two decades serving as a missionary and bishop in the region.
- During his 20-year tenure in Peru, Pope Leo championed social justice and Indigenous rights while learning local languages to communicate church teachings effectively. His dedication to the region remains a defining part of his identity and ministry.
- The El Trebol restaurant displayed a life-sized cutout of the Pope to celebrate the homecoming. Reflecting on his past ministry, the pontiff joked about "doubting Thomases" while greeting residents who remembered him fondly.
- Pope Leo held mass outside the cathedral where he once celebrated services, later addressing local clergy, seminarians, and members of synodal teams. He also spoke at the Catholic university, where he previously served as chancellor.
- Observers noted that his ministry in Peru significantly shaped the pontiff's approach to the papacy, particularly his focus on the poor and marginalized. This homecoming underscored his enduring emotional connection to the region and its people.
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Pope Leo XIV expressed his concern on Saturday (14) about the suffering of rural communities under pressure from poverty, during a mass in a small village in the Andes of northern Peru. The 71-year-old American Pope arrived on Wednesday in Peru, a country of which he also has a nationality and where he lived for almost two decades. This is the last stage of a 12-day journey that included Uruguay and Argentina, a month after undergoing surgery fo…
Pope Leon XIV warned in the Andes of Peru about the migration, poverty and low birth rate that empty rural communities. Cajamarca records 729,000 internal migrants.
Before the open-air ceremony, Leo XIV visited a church in the center of the village to pray in front of the venerable Lord of the Costado, patron of the town, whose statue symbolizes a Christ that bleeds on one side of the torso.
Leon XIV gave a mass in Santa Cruz de Succhabamba, 140 km from Chiclayo, and referred to the sufferings of that village of 5,000 inhabitants.Thousands of people came there on a narrow and dangerous road, and camped to see the pontiff closely.
Newcastle Herald
Pope Leo visits remote Andes town on special Peru stop
Pope Leo has made an emotional return home to Peru for the first Peruvian citizen to become pontiff.
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