Pope Leo tells Peruvian crowd, ‘I’ve come back home’
In the northern Peruvian city of Chiclayo, where Pope Leo XIV served as bishop until three years ago, residents spent his visit recounting stories about Father Robert Prevost. NPR’s Carrie Kahn reported that seemingly everyone in town has a story to tell, and that many residents slip and forget to call him Pope Leo.
Carlos Rodriguez Chimoya, 77, sitting in the shade in front of Chiclayo’s bright yellow cathedral, called him “a sensitive, humble and most charitable person.” Santos Lema Morales, on the same bench, remembered a man who cared for the poor. “He always had food for everyone,” she said.
Rodriguez Chimoya also recalled Father Robert’s work during the pandemic. He traveled to remote villages, sometimes on horseback, delivered goods and raised funds to build two oxygen plants in the region. That work unfolded across a tenure in which he served as bishop through years of political turmoil, the COVID pandemic and a huge influx of migrants, NPR reported.
Cesar Cortavitarte, now 25, was an altar boy for years and helped Father Robert. “It’s still hard for me to believe he’s the pope,” he told NPR, seated on the red-carpeted stage set up in front of the cathedral. “I just feel very nostalgic when I see him. Mixed emotions,” he said. Father Robert was a great support to him after his parents divorced and his grandfather died. The advice he remembers: “Be patient and have a good sense of humor, he would tell me, and don’t despair. Everything has a solution.”
Cortavitarte said he does not think he will get close enough to say hello to the pope, but that he is glad his mentor is back and that others in Peru and the world get to see how special he is.
The city prepared visibly for the arrival. Painters put last-minute touches on buildings near the cathedral and Chiclayo’s plaza, and cardboard cutouts of the pope and his likeness seemed to be in nearly every building. The Chiclayo visit was what NPR called Leo’s most emotional homecoming.
Pope Leo described the same nostalgia when speaking about his two decades in Peru. On his arrival, he told a huge crowd how working beside the generosity and warmth of Peruvians shaped the minister, the pastor he is today. “If I could live those years again, I would do so with joy,” he told the crowd, adding, “I’ve come back home.”
Lima marked the pope’s arrival first. Youth marched through the narrow streets of downtown’s Historic Centre, singing and celebrating, and the 71-year-old pontiff smiled broadly at his welcome ceremony in the presidential palace courtyard as a children’s choir sang the national anthem. Leo sang alongside President Keiko Fujimori. From his first day back in Peru, NPR reported, the pope looked right at home — relaxed, smiling and easily returning the affection pouring from the crowds.
“My dear Peruvian people, buenos dias,” Leo told a huge crowd that had waited hours in Lima’s stifling humidity. NPR reported that millions have turned out to welcome the Chicago-born pope during a 12-day tour that has introduced his young papacy to South Americans — but in Peru, he is very well known.
NPR’s report framed the stop as a return to the country the pope called home for 20 years, and residents of Chiclayo made the same point in their own terms: to them, he is still Father Robert Prevost.