Top photo caption: Pope Leo XIV greets a child as he arrives at Callao Air Base in Lima, Peru, Nov. 11, 2026, during his Nov. 6-17 apostolic journey to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru. OSV News photo/Simone Risoluti, Vatican Media
By Courtney Mares, OSV News
LIMA, Peru OSV News – Pope Leo XIV arrived in Lima Nov. 11 for the much-anticipated final leg of his 12-day apostolic journey to South America, landing in the country that the Pope described as “one of my many homes.”
PHOTO GALLERY: Pope Leo in Peru
The visit marks Pope Leo’s first return to Peru since his election and brings him back to a country where he spent two decades that shaped his ministry as an Augustinian missionary and bishop in Peru. He first arrived in Peru as a missionary priest in 1985 and later returned to lead the Diocese of Chiclayo, serving as its bishop from 2015 to 2023.
In his very first speech as Pope, he gave a special shoutout in Spanish from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica to “my beloved Diocese of Chiclayo, in Peru,” where, he said, “a faithful people has accompanied its bishop, shared its faith and given so much, so much, to continue being a faithful Church of Jesus Christ.”
For the people of Peru, the apostolic visit is not just a welcoming of the Vicar of Christ; it’s the return of a missionary, a neighbor and a shepherd who understood the realities of those who lived there, particularly the poor and the marginalized. Many signs and welcome banners with images of the Pope are spread across the streets of Chiclayo as the city awaits his return.
“It feels like the return of a family member who’s been away,” Mildred Camacho, Pope Leo’s 31-year-old goddaughter, told OSV News the day before his arrival.
Camacho, who was named after Pope Leo’s late mother, Mildred, is serving as a volunteer for the papal visit. Then-Father Robert Francis Prevost was just 40 years old when she was baptized shortly after turning 1 in August 1996 in Chulucanas, Peru.
The papal flight touched down at the Callao Air Base in Lima at about 5 p.m. local time after traveling around 2,000 miles on a four-hour, 20-minute flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Peru’s President Keiko Fujimori welcomed Pope Leo at the foot of the stairs, and two children presented him with flowers. A children’s choir sang hymns in Latin and people in the crowds lining his walkway shouted with excitement as he greeted people, especially babies and children, and accepted gifts.
Pope Leo’s first stop in Peru was at the Palacio de Gobierno for the official welcome ceremony and a private meeting with Fujimori, who in July became the country’s ninth president in 10 years.
People lined the streets waving and cheering to catch a glimpse of the papal motorcade as Pope Leo traveled from the airport to the city center. The Holy See estimated 3 million people were present on Lima’s streets to welcome Pope Leo that evening.
The Pope addressed the nation’s political authorities at Lima’s Grand National Theater that evening in his first speech in Peru.
“This return visit holds a very special meaning for me,” he said. “My history with Peru began long before the Lord entrusted me with the Diocese of Chiclayo. For decades, I shared in the lives of its people, listened to their concerns, and learned from their faith. Many opened the doors of their homes to me, shared their table with me – and, of course, some good ceviche – and made me feel like one of their own.”
Noting he received Peruvian citizenship in 2015, he added, “That act symbolized a bond that this people had been weaving into my life long before. Today I understand how much of this land remains with me and how much of my own story also belongs to you.”
Now as Pope, he said, he recognizes how the Lord was “forming me as a shepherd” while in Peru.
“If I were granted the chance to relive those years, I would do so with joy, embracing both their happy moments and their difficulties,” he said. “That is why I can tell you, with deep gratitude, that I am also returning to my homeland.”
He spoke about the impact of the Gospel on Peru’s history when it was first proclaimed there 500 years ago. “The faith took deep root in these lands and found expression in their
traditions and in countless works of charity,” he said. “Suffice it to recall that the first flower of Latin American holiness bore the name ‘Rosa,’ and that this Rosa was Peruvian” – a nod to St. Rose of Lima, a Dominican tertiary who lived in Peru’s capital 1586-1617, and was the first canonized saint of the Americas.
He urged the officials to listen to the Peruvian people, noting that “Democratic life implies recognizing that no one has all the answers and that differences do not prevent us from sharing a sincere concern for the good of the country.”
“I would like to encourage everyone to cultivate honesty, integrity, and a willingness to engage with others – qualities that sustain trust among people and give strength to the life of institutions,” Pope Leo said.
Families should not be deprived of peace, which, for them, includes “going out to work without fear, caring for one’s children, and returning home with peace of mind,” he said.
The Associated Press has reported that crime, extortion and killings have been on the rise in Peru, with homicides reaching 10.7 per 100,000 ?inhabitants, up from 5.8 five years ago.
The Pope acknowledged the suffering caused by violence and the Church’s desire “to remain close to those who endure it,” he said. He also said that “providing for one’s family with dignity is also part of that everyday peace” and that development has a “cultural, moral, and spiritual” dimension as well.
“There are goods that no economic prosperity can replace: peace of conscience, the certainty of being loved, and the freedom to seek the truth and to guide one’s life according to it,” he said.
Among Peru’s challenges is its inequality and poverty: In 2025, 25.7% of the Peruvian population was living in poverty, according to government data.
Stressing the need for unity in the country, Pope Leo also said that “To love a people is to desire that everyone may live with dignity among them, to take an interest in them, and to be willing to offer something of oneself for their good. It is a sentiment that I have come to understand better thanks to you, and which I wish to share today with those who hold public office,” he said.
The Pope also listed different expressions of solidarity preserved in Peru, such as communal work projects, women running soup kitchens and meal programs, and the different ways families help one another in times of difficulty.
Through the intercession of Mary and all the saints and blesseds of the country, the Pope asked God “that the love of Christ may help you to recognize in every Peruvian a brother or sister, and in each one, yet another reason to love your homeland.”
He concluded the speech asking for God’s blessings upon Peru and all his people.
On his second day in Lima Nov. 12, Pope Leo expects to meet with Peru’s bishops and lead mid-morning prayer at the Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist with the country’s Catholic community. He plans to give a speech outside the cathedral on the challenges and hopes of the Peruvian people. That evening, Pope Leo is scheduled to join young people and college students at the National Stadium for a prayer vigil.
In addition to Lima, the capital and largest city of Peru, Pope Leo will also visit Chiclayo, where he will celebrate a large outdoor Mass; Cusco, the former Inca capital in the Andes; and Pucallpa, a city on the Ucayali River in the Amazon rainforest that has long been a center of Catholic missionary outreach before arriving back in Rome on Nov. 17.
Courtney Mares is Vatican editor for OSV News. Follow her on X @catholicourtney.
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