CHICLAYO, Peru — Pope Leo XIV returned Friday to his beloved former diocese of Chiclayo, an emotional homecoming that underscored his love for his Peruvian flock and their pride that their shepherd now runs the Catholic Church. The pope’s Latam charter touched down at Chiclayo’s airport on the Pacific coast. On the side of the aircraft was the message that has followed Leo wherever he has gone in Peru: #LeonXIVvuelaaCasa (Leon XIV flies home). Chiclayo, population 700,000, is the commercial hub of Peru’s northern Pacific coast. But much of the world heard about it on the night of Leo’s election, May 8, 2025, when he gave Chiclayo a shoutout, in Spanish, from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica. And on Friday, Chiclayo was welcoming its former shepherd home. “I’m so glad he’s returning,” said Rolando Antonio Mendoza, who was selling posters bearing the pope’s image in front of the cathedral where Leo used to celebrate Mass. “Even though he’s now Pope Leo XIV, he hasn’t forgotten about his homeland.” Church organizers say as many as a million people could turn out for Leo’s first big Mass in Peru, being held Friday morning on a massive field outside Chiclayo. Beloved for being close to the poor The former Robert Prevost spent two decades as a missionary priest and bishop in Peru and credits the place and its people with teaching him how to be a shepherd. Pope Francis sent the Chicago-born Augustinian to take over as bishop of Chiclayo in 2014 and he stayed until Francis summoned him to Rome in 2023 to run the Vatican’s bishops’ office. In hindsight, the 2023 transfer to Rome signaled that Francis saw in Prevost a potential successor, since the job is one of the most important in the church and would give Prevost the Vatican experience that many consider necessary to be a viable contender for the papacy. But Prevost’s heart is in Chiclayo, where he remains beloved for championing social justice issues and for his closeness to the people, especially poor people, during times of crisis. And he had quite a few during his tenure: COVID-19, devastating floods, and a surge of Venezuelan migrants as the humanitarian situation worsened there in 2018. “Chiclayo is a party,” said Rocio Zena, who remembered how Prevost helped her when she lost her family home in the 2023 floods. “We’re overjoyed to welcome the Holy Father with so much faith. He arrives, no longer as Prevost but as Leo XIV. And he’s coming home.” In town, the El Trebol restaurant proudly calls itself the restaurant of the pope and his image is displayed in framed photos of Prevost riding a horse, wading through the mud in rubber boots and celebrating his birthday with a cake. A sign on his favorite table — No. 3 — with a view of the cathedral, reads: “mesa bendita” – Spanish for blessed table. Like many other places around the city, the restaurant sells “Papaletas” or “Pop(e)sicles” with Leo’s image in white chocolate. Just a few steps from the restaurant, a life-size cardboard cutout of the pope now welcomes visitors to his former residence at the diocese, where an exhibit displays the amaranth purple, scarlet and white zucchettos, or skullcaps, that he wore as bishop, cardinal and now pope. “I feel so happy about my work because the pope is Chiclayano,” said Cynthia Charrary, who was sweeping the streets near the city’s main square ahead of Leo’s arrival. “We want our city to be cleaner than ever.” A giddy pope on his home turf Ever since Leo touched down on Peruvian soil on Wednesday, the world has seen a very different pope. Normally reserved and placid, the 71-year-old Leo has seemed at turns positively giddy and overwhelmed with emotion to the point of tears. That was certainly the case on Thursday night when some 60,000 young Peruvians sang for him in the Lima stadium. It was also the case when he sang the national anthem at the presidential palace upon his arrival on Wednesday. Leo has also sung along with popular songs and hymns, tapping his fingers to the beat on an armchair. On other occasions, he has shown himself so relaxed and comfortable as to joke about his health. Speaking to Peruvian bishops, he joked about how some “doubting Thomases” didn’t think he’d make it because of his recent lung cancer surgery. A 16th-century saint is an inspiration After the Mass, Leo’s other main events of the day include a meeting with Chiclayo clergy and seminarians and a speech to the Catholic university where he served as chancellor during his years as bishop. The university is named for the 16th-century first archbishop of Lima, St. Turibius de Mogrovejo. Leo is particularly devoted to Mogrovejo and in many ways modeled his ministry on his. Mogrovejo is revered for having traveled long distances on horseback to be with his flock and for having defended the rights of Indigenous and enslaved peoples. He studied Quechua and Aymara and oversaw the printing of church teaching in these Indigenous languages, because he believed the faith had to be transmitted in a language people could understand. The Rev. John Lydon, an Augustinian who lived with Leo in Peru for over 10 years, says his commitment to Peruvians, human rights and involving the lay faithful in the running of church initiatives was born during his stints first as a young missionary priest in Chulucanas, then Trujillo and finally as bishop in Chiclayo. Lydon recalled that when Leo first arrived in Peru in the mid-1980s, during the period of the Shining Path terror campaign and the authoritarian Fujimori regime’s crackdown, then-Rev. Prevost led a campaign to collect signatures to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. “These are the kind of things that just mark his identity,” Lydon recalled. Winfield reported from Lima, Peru Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. Luis Andres Henao And Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press
