Pope Leo XIV greeting crowds at Montserrat, Spain, June 2026

Pope Leo XIV Returns to Peru: A Hero’s Homecoming in the Country That Made Him

November 12, 2026 Faizan Altaf

Pope Leo XIV arrived in Peru on Wednesday, 11 November, to a hero’s welcome in the country he calls his second homeland. It is the final and most emotional leg of his 12-day tour of South America — a return to the place where the former Robert Prevost spent more than two decades as a missionary priest and bishop, and where millions of people still call him “Padre Robert”.

The Pope’s plane touched down at Callao Air Base, near the capital Lima, at about 5 p.m. local time after a four-hour, 20-minute flight from Buenos Aires. President Keiko Fujimori welcomed him at the foot of the steps, and two children presented him with flowers. Smiling, the Pope plunged into the crowd of well-wishers on the tarmac, waving flags of Peru and the Vatican, stopping to hold a baby and listen to a children’s choir.

It is a homecoming with few parallels in modern Church history. Leo XIV is the first pope from the United States — and the first from Peru, too. He holds citizenship of both countries, and during this visit he will receive a new Peruvian identity card listing Chiclayo, his old diocese, as his address.

A hero’s welcome in Lima

Peru had been preparing for this day for months. In the port of El Callao, a 14-metre (46-foot) statue of the Pope was unveiled ahead of the visit, and in Chiclayo his face is painted on murals and printed on T-shirts, hats and bobblehead dolls.

The welcome on Wednesday lived up to the build-up. Hundreds of people waited in front of the presidential palace, where a stage and giant screens had been set up amid tight security. “Long live Christ!” the crowd sang, following a Catholic choir on the stage. “It’s so beautiful and so moving,” said Anni Marino, 52, who joined the singing. “I hold it in my heart because he’s the representative of God.”

From the air base, the Pope travelled in his popemobile through streets lined with supporters on his way to the Government Palace in Lima for the official welcome ceremony. The faithful lined the streets dozens-deep along the route from the airport.

The six-day visit to Peru is the third and final leg of the Pope’s first apostolic journey to South America since his election in May 2025, following stops in Uruguay and Argentina. The full tour runs from 6 to 17 November, covering 10 cities, with 14 flights and 36 speeches.

“I am also returning to my homeland”

On his first evening in Peru, the Pope addressed the country’s political leaders, civil society representatives and diplomats at Lima’s Grand National Theatre. It was his first speech of the visit, and he made clear how much the return means to him.

His return to Peru, he said, holds a “very special meaning” for him. “That is why I can tell you, with deep gratitude, that I am also returning to my homeland,” he told the audience.

He spoke of the years he spent in the country, saying Peruvians had made him “feel like one of their own”, welcoming him into their homes and sharing with him “some good ceviche”, the traditional Peruvian fish dish. He credited the country with “forming me as a shepherd”.

The words matter because of what comes next. The Pope is due to deliver a major address from the square in front of Lima’s cathedral on “the challenges and hopes for the future of the Peruvian people” — a speech that will be watched closely in a country worn down by political instability, violent crime and poverty.

The six-day journey: Chiclayo, Cusco and the Amazon

The Pope’s programme takes him from the coast to the Andes and into the Amazon — a demanding schedule, especially for a 71-year-old who underwent surgery less than a month ago to remove a lobe of his right lung containing a malignant tumour. His doctors confirmed on 26 October that the trip could go ahead as planned, and the programme has not been shortened.

On Thursday, 12 November, he meets Peru’s bishops and leads midday prayer in Lima’s cathedral. On Friday he returns to Chiclayo, the northern city where he served as bishop from 2015 to 2023, to celebrate a large outdoor Mass on the Pampas de Pimentel. He will also visit the nearby sanctuary of St Turibius of Mogrovejo in Zaña, a city that is a hub of Afro-Peruvian culture, where he often went to pray to the saint of his devotion.

The journey then takes him to Cusco, the former capital of the Inca empire, where he will pray the Angelus at Saqsaywaman and celebrate Mass in the city’s main square. From there he travels to Pucallpa, in the Amazon, to meet missionaries and representatives of Indigenous peoples.

He returns to Lima for a final Mass at Las Palmas Air Base on Monday, 16 November, before flying back to Rome.

Two decades in Peru: the making of “Padre Robert”

To understand why this visit matters so much to Peruvians, you have to understand the two decades Robert Prevost spent in their country. A young Prevost first arrived in Peru as an Augustinian missionary in 1985. He went on to serve in Trujillo, in the north, and later as bishop of Chiclayo. His time in Peru shaped his leadership style — and, many believe, set him on the path to the papacy.

The people who worked with him remember a priest who was always close to ordinary life. He rode on horseback to visit the most isolated Andean communities in his diocese. He wore rubber boots and waded into floodwater to reach families in trouble. During the Covid-19 pandemic, he distributed food and everything needed by people living under lockdown for months, and offered spiritual guidance during the crisis.

“He came every two weeks in his little car; he came alone in a simple pickup truck,” said Father José Del Rosario, a parish priest who worked closely with the then-bishop. “He gave us a lot of hope and cared for our people, a man who was very close to the people … and also very humble.”

Prevost’s experience in Peru also shaped how the cardinals saw him when they elected him pope in May 2025. In the past, the election of an American pope was considered almost impossible, because the College of Cardinals did not want the papacy to be associated with the world’s dominant political and cultural power. But the cardinals who voted for Prevost did not see him simply as a candidate from the United States. His years in Peru won him broad support among cardinals who wanted a bishop with roots in Latin America — someone who speaks Spanish fluently and understands the concerns of the people of that continent.

The pandemic priest: oxygen plants and rubber boots

The pandemic years show why Peruvians remember their former bishop with such affection. Peru recorded more than 219,000 Covid-19 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University figures — one of the highest coronavirus death rates in the world. In Lima and in the regions, terrifying scenes unfolded outside hospitals, with sick people collapsing in the street because of the shortage of oxygen, one of the key tools for treating the virus.

In Chiclayo, Bishop Prevost launched a fundraising campaign to buy an oxygen plant. Working with Caritas Chiclayo, he appealed to the authorities and to civil society and raised more than US$380,000 — enough not just for one oxygen plant, but for two.

“I think he was heroic in many ways; he risked becoming ill. We lost 11 priests and a bishop emeritus during that time,” Father Del Rosario recalled.

The same hands-on approach showed during natural disasters. Janinna Sesa, the former director of Caritas Chiclayo, worked with the bishop for eight years, including during the flooding caused by the coastal El Niño in 2017 and Cyclone Yaku in 2023.

“We were always on the front lines, especially during disasters like the coastal El Niño phenomenon. He was the person who put on his boots and waded into the water; he helped people. He was very approachable and very kind,” Sesa told CNN.

Before leaving for Rome in 2023, after the late Pope Francis appointed him to a senior Vatican post, Bishop Prevost also led appeals for aid for more than 10,000 people affected by flooding caused by Cyclone Yaku in the north of the country. “I ask you to be generous; I ask you to open your hearts so that we can help one another and move forward, as we have done in other times of crisis,” he said in a video message, standing in floodwater in the district of Illimo.

The Venezuelan migrant crisis was another test. Peru received more than 1.6 million Venezuelans through November 2025, the second-highest number in the region after Colombia. More than 20,000 of them passed through Chiclayo, and more than 3,500 families settled in the region. Prevost promoted a Church commission to help migrants and combat human trafficking, and helped build a village for them at Puerto Etén.

A country waiting for hope

The Pope arrives in a Peru that is struggling. The country has about 34 million people, and in 2025, 25.7 per cent of the population was living in monetary poverty. Violent crime has surged: the homicide rate has nearly doubled in five years, reaching 10.7 per 100,000 inhabitants, up from 5.8.

Politically, the country has been through a decade of turmoil. President Keiko Fujimori, who welcomed the Pope at the airport, came to power in July promising to restore order. She is the country’s ninth president in 10 years, and the daughter of Alberto Fujimori, who ruled Peru for a decade in the 1990s.

“There’s a profound sense of weariness regarding politics and corruption,” said Véronique Lecaros, head of the department of theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. In contrast, she said, the Catholic Church enjoys a level of credibility that surpasses any other Peruvian institution — even though the share of Peruvians identifying as Catholic has fallen from 76 per cent in 2013–2014 to around 67 per cent today, according to the Pew Research Center.

That credibility is part of why the visit carries such weight. “His return, now as pope, inspires great hope among a large segment of Peruvian society that still perceives and feels the abandonment of the state,” said Rolando Pérez, a professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. “Deeply etched in the public consciousness is the image of a shepherd who stood by the people, helping to bring into the public agenda their demands and their cry for justice.”

The harder questions: abuse and accountability

Not everything about the homecoming is celebration. The visit also comes as survivors’ groups and campaigners have called for a truth commission to investigate abuse in the Peruvian Catholic Church — a demand Findivoza reported on ahead of the visit, in Pope Leo’s Peru Homecoming Faces a Truth Commission Call Over Catholic Church Abuse.

That call will follow the Pope through the week. He is remembered as a bishop who listened to victims and encouraged people to denounce abuses, and the visit will be judged in part on whether that reputation is matched by action. The Reverend John Lydon, an Augustinian priest who lived and worked with Prevost for a decade, told CNN: “I believe his dedication to the poor and his defense of human rights will continue to define his visit.”

The contrast with his last stop is also on people’s minds. In Buenos Aires, the Pope drew 2.5 million people to Mass and then met abuse survivors in private — a gesture that was widely noted. Whether he makes a similar gesture in Peru, the country where his own pastoral identity was formed, remains to be seen.

What happens next

The next six days will test whether the emotion of the homecoming can turn into something lasting. The Pope’s schedule — Lima, Chiclayo, Cusco, Pucallpa — is designed to reach the whole country: the capital, his old diocese, the Andean highlands and the Amazon. In Pucallpa he will meet Indigenous peoples whose lives are affected by illegal gold mining and the cultivation of coca leaves, the raw material used to make cocaine.

For Peruvians, the visit is a rare moment of national celebration in a difficult decade. He leaves Peru on Monday, 16 November, after a final Mass at Las Palmas Air Base in Lima. By then, Peru will know whether its beloved Padre Robert came home only to be celebrated — or to be listened to.

Frequently asked questions

When did Pope Leo XIV arrive in Peru?

Pope Leo XIV arrived in Peru on Wednesday, 11 November 2026, landing at Callao Air Base near Lima at about 5 p.m. local time. It is the final leg of his 12-day tour of South America, after visits to Uruguay and Argentina.

How long is the Pope staying in Peru?

Six days. He will visit Lima, Chiclayo, Cusco and Pucallpa, and will celebrate a final Mass at Las Palmas Air Base in Lima on Monday, 16 November, before returning to Rome.

Why is Peru so important to Pope Leo XIV?

The former Robert Prevost spent more than 20 years in Peru as an Augustinian missionary and later as Bishop of Chiclayo (2015–2023). He is a Peruvian citizen, speaks Spanish fluently, and says the country taught him how to be a pastor. He is the first pope from both the United States and Peru.

What is the Pope’s health condition?

Pope Leo XIV, 71, underwent surgery less than a month before the trip to remove a lobe of his right lung containing a malignant tumour. His doctors confirmed on 26 October that the South America tour could go ahead as planned, and the programme has not been shortened.

Conclusion

Pope Leo XIV’s return to Peru is more than a papal visit. It is the homecoming of a man the country adopted as its own — a missionary who arrived in 1985, a bishop who waded through floodwater and drove oxygen to the dying during the pandemic, and now a pope returning to the people who shaped him. For many Peruvians, he is not a distant figure in Rome. He is Padre Robert, and he has come home.

The warmth of the welcome is real, and so are the expectations behind it. Peru is poor, violent and tired of political failure. The Pope’s words in Lima, Chiclayo, Cusco and Pucallpa will be measured against the record of the bishop who once stood beside his people in their hardest moments. If he lives up to that record, this homecoming could be remembered as the moment a country found hope again.

Sources

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.