The official agenda for Leo XIV’s visit to Peru not only details masses, meetings and trips. It also traces a route through some of the places and communities that were part of Robert Prevost’s life before he became Pope. Four decades after arriving in the country as a young missionary, the pontiff will return in November to a territory in which he developed a good part of his pastoral career, first as a religious and then as bishop of Chiclayo.
The story of Leo XIV with Peru began in 1985, when Robert Prevost was 30 years old and was sent by the Order of Saint Augustine to Chulucanas, in Piura. He stayed there for a year as part of his first missionary experience in the country.
According to the official Vatican biography, during that period He served as vice-parish priest of the Cathedral of the Sagrada Familia and chancellor of the then territorial prelature of Chulucanasentrusted to the Augustinians.
That first experience would not be an isolated episode. After a brief return to the United States, Prevost returned to Peru in 1988 to join the Augustinian mission of Trujillo.. There he developed different responsibilities linked to religious formation, teaching and parish work.
Trujillo, the years of pastoral formation
The time in Trujillo was one of Prevost’s longest periods in the country. From 1988 to 1998 he held, among other positions, prior of the Augustinian community and director of formation.
He was also a teacher of the professed, taught canon law, moral and patristic theology at the Archdiocesan Major Seminary of San Carlos and San Marcelo, and exercised pastoral functions in different parishes.
Baptism of Mildred Camacho in Chulucanas
That period allowed Prevost developed an experience that combined religious formation with daily contact with the communities. The official biography of the Holy See records that He remained in northern Peru until 1999, when he was elected prior provincial of the Midwest Province of the Order of Saint Augustine and returned to the United States. His relationship with Peru, however, would still have a new chapter.
Chiclayo, the city where he arrived as bishop
Fifteen years after his first arrival in Chulucanas, Prevost He returned to Peru to assume a different responsibility. In November 2014 he was appointed apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo and, shortly after, received the episcopal ordination.
Pope Leo XIV when he was bishop with other priests in Chiclayo during the coronavirus.
In 2015 was named Bishop of Chiclayo and that same year obtained Peruvian nationality by naturalization. During his administration he remained linked to the pastoral life of the diocese and later He came to occupy responsibilities within the Peruvian Episcopal Conference.
The city thus became one of the main stages of his career in the country.
In 2023 Prevost was appointed prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. / JUAN MENDOZA
Over there He served as bishop until he was called to Rome in 2023 to assume as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, but not before being named apostolic administrator in Callao in 2020where he showed that his mission included the fight against youth violence and celebrated masses in prisons.
“He promoted common pots in areas such as Ventanilla and Pachacutec. His commitment in both Chiclayo and Callao was total”he said Luis Alberto Barrera Pacheco, second vice president of the CEP and bishop in Callao.
The Commerce I had already rebuilt this Prevost’s career in Peru and highlighted that, during his time in Chiclayo, he maintained a close relationship with the faithful and developed projects linked to the local community.
The return to Chiclayo as pontiff
Now, Leo XIV He will return to the city he led as bishop, but from a completely different position.
He Friday, November 13, will arrive in Chiclayo from Lima and will celebrate a mass in the Pampas of Pimentel. That same day he will have meetings with bishops, priests, religious, seminarians and representatives of the university world, in addition to a dinner with priests from the Diocese of Chiclayo.
Photograph of the image of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception during a thanksgiving mass this Saturday, in the central square of Chiclayo. Photo: EFE/Paolo Aguilar
The next day he will return to the Saint Mary’s Cathedral to participate in the coronation rite of the Immaculate Virgin before taking a helicopter to Santa Cruz de Succabamba.
The return will not, therefore, be a visit exclusively to the city where he served as bishop. The itinerary also includes places linked to its former pastoral territory.
Santa Cruz and Zaña, two stops outside the regional capital
On Saturday, November 14, the Pope will travel by helicopter from the Chiclayo Air Base towards Santa Cruz de Succabamba. The official itinerary establishes his arrival at the heliport at 9:50 am and a mass at 11 am Then you will return to Chiclayo to continue with your agenda.
The day will conclude with another point linked to the religious history of northern Peru: at 5:30 pm Leo XIV will participate in a prayer meeting at the Sanctuary of Santo Toribio de Mogrovejowithin the framework of the closing of the Jubilee Year of Santo Toribio.
Sanctuary of Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo in Zaña, Lambayeque. (Image: Facebook ‘Catechesis Zaña’ Diffusion).
Thus, in just two days, the Pope will visit several areas in the north of the country that are part of the religious geography. with which he was related during his years as bishop of Chiclayo.
From Chiclayo to Cusco, Pucallpa and Lima: the final leg of Leo XIV’s journey through Peru
The visit of Leo XIV will continue Sunday, November 15 with a journey that will take you from Chiclayo to Cusco, then to Pucallpa and finally back to Lime. It will be one of the longest days of your tour of Peru and will bring together activities with Catholic communities, representatives of popular piety and Amazonian peoples.
The Pope will depart at 7:50 am from the Chiclayo Air Base heading to Cusco. Once there, at 10:30 am, you will participate in a meeting with faithful and representatives of popular piety in the Saqsaywaman National Archaeological Park. Later, at 11:45 am, he will pray the Angelus with the Catholic community in the square located in front of the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
More than 2,500 tourists enjoy the Inti Raymi ceremony in the Sacsayhuamán Archaeological Park in Cusco, Peru (Photo: Andina).
The tour will continue towards Pucallpa. The flight from Cusco is scheduled for 1:05 pm and arrival at Captain FAP David Abensur Rengifo International Airport It will be at 2:30 pm Half an hour later, Leo XIV will meet at Malecon Puerto Callao with missionaries and representatives of the Amazonian peoples.
The day in Pucallpa will conclude with a mass at 4:45 pm in the Ucayali Regional Sports Village. At 7:05 pm, the pontiff will take the flight back to Limewhere you will reach the Callao Air Base at 8:20 p.m.
A sacristy will be implemented for the mass that Pope Francis will officiate at the Las Palmas air base. (Andean)
He Monday, November 16last day of activities in Peru, Leo XIV will visit the shelter home at 8:30 am. Little Sisters of the Helpless Elderly. At 10:30 am a mass will be celebrated in the Las Palmas Air Base and, after the farewell ceremony scheduled for 1:15 pm at the Callao Air Basewill leave for Rome at 1:45 p.m.
The official program contemplates its arrival at Rome/Fiumicino International Airport at 10:15 a.m. Tuesday, November 17which will conclude his visit to Peru and the apostolic journey.
Kurt Mendoza: “The return is going to close that circle a little”
For Kurt Mendoza, former head of Press and Communications of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference and specialist in Church issues, the next trip can be understood as the closing of a stage that began when Prevost first arrived in the country as a missionary.
Mendoza three moments especially stand out: his arrival to Chulucanas In 1985, his election as bishop of Chiclayo and his subsequent farewell to that diocese when he was called to Rome.
“That 20-year journey in Peru seems to have formed the character of a priest and possibly a bishop”he pointed out.
Kurt Mendoza, specialist in Church issues. (Photo: Canal N Broadcasting).
/ Diego Aquino Pedraza
Regarding his return in November, he considers that returning to the places where he carried out his pastoral work takes on a different dimension due to his current status as pontiff.
“I think it is something very personal, due to the close relationship it maintains with our country”held Mendoza. In his opinion, Leo XIV maintains a special bond with Peru and the trip also represents the possibility of reconnect with the people he met during his years of pastoral service.
The specialist summarizes this process as a circle that began with that first trip to Chulucanas and that Now he will have a new chapter with his return to Peru as Pope: “That moment in November is going to close that circle a little”.
