AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTYou have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.Leo XIV returned to the city in Peru where he served as bishop for eight years, drawing large crowds who remembered him before he was pope.Pope Leo XIV arriving to celebrate Mass on Friday near Chiclayo, Peru, where he served as a bishop.
The stop was part of a 12-day tour of Uruguay, Argentina and Peru. Credit...Pilar Olivares/ReutersNov.
13, 2026, 5:21 p.m. ETIt was hard to believe that anyone who lived in Chiclayo, Peru, was not lining its streets on Friday.As the motorcade of Pope Leo XIV, who has been in South America for over a week, made its way through the city that he calls one of his homes, an almost unbroken stream of people stood by the roadside, waving, holding signs and clutching white and yellow balloons, the colors of the Vatican flag.
The last time many of them saw him, he was “Padre Robert” — Father Robert — but now they jubilantly welcomed him back as Papa Leon.A month after being diagnosed with cancer and undergoing surgery to remove a lobe of his right lung, Leo arrived at the destination that made this 12-day tour of Uruguay, Argentina and Peru a true homecoming. For eight years, Leo — then known as Robert Prevost — served as bishop of Chiclayo, a coastal city where he is remembered for working side by side with the Red Cross during devastating floods or driving for hours to get to parishioners in the highlands.When he stepped out on the balcony in St.
Peter’s Square after being elected pope last year, the one community he mentioned was his “dear Chiclayo.” It was while serving here that he became a Peruvian citizen.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?
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