Pope Leo XIV tells Peru 'I am returning to my homeland'

Pope Leo XIV returned to Peru on Wednesday for the last stop on his South American tour, following visits to Uruguay and Argentina. He spent more than two decades in Peru as a missionary and later a bishop.

The Vatican, citing local officials, put the crowd along his Lima motorcade route at about 3 million, with people waving Peruvian and Holy See flags. France 24 described thousands of people along the route.

“I can tell you, with deep gratitude, that I am returning to my homeland,” Leo said at Lima’s Gran Teatro Nacional.

Peruvians greeted him as “Padre Robert.” A citizen of both the United States and Peru, Leo is the first pope from either country.

Leo appeared moved as he left his Aerolíneas Argentinas charter plane, where President Keiko Fujimori greeted him at a Lima-area air base. On the tarmac, two children brought him flowers and he embraced them, held an infant and paused for a children’s choir.

“My heart is so excited that it makes me want to cry with joy,” said Zuly Castillo, Leo’s former secretary during his time as bishop of Chiclayo.

Remarks on the past

Shortly after landing, Leo urged Fujimori to build public confidence following her narrow election win earlier this year, Devdiscourse said in a syndicated wire report. The report said he also referred to the legacy of her father, former President Alberto Fujimori.

“Past events deserve to be treated with justice and sensitivity, leaving room for harmony to grow and for differences to be addressed with respect,” Leo said.

In her welcome, Fujimori said the visit invited Peru to pursue its “unfinished task” of national reconciliation.

Alberto Fujimori led Peru from 1990 to 2000 and was convicted of human rights abuses, the report said. He received a pardon in 2017 and died in 2024.

Leo, then Bishop Robert Prevost, criticized that pardon in 2017, according to the report. He argued that victims needed a personal request for forgiveness from the former president for Peru to reach genuine reconciliation.

“If there's anything that could potentially be at odds with the current Fujimori government, it would be a reflection on the past,” Atlantic Council analyst Martin Cassinelli said before the visit.

Crime and distrust

Fujimori, a conservative, took power in July after promising to restore order as Peru faced extortion and homicide. The country’s homicide rate has nearly doubled, rising to 10.7 per 100,000 inhabitants from 5.8 five years ago.

Political instability over the past decade has left many Peruvians disappointed with authorities, said Alonso Cárdenas, a political science professor at Antonio Ruiz de Montoya University. Peru has had nine presidents since July 2016, he said.

“There's no sign of a reaction, no strategy,” Cárdenas said of Fujimori’s government.

“Peru is the crown of the trip, the homecoming of the first Peruvian pope, no matter where he was born,” said Gustavo Morello, an associate professor of sociology at Boston College.

Leo began his trip less than a month after surgery for lung cancer, El Nuevo Herald reported, citing Spanish news agency EFE. The operation removed the lower lobe of his right lung.

The official papal schedule published by Andina lists a Thursday meeting in Lima’s Cathedral Square on Peruvians’ challenges and hopes for the future. Leo is then scheduled to lead a youth prayer vigil at the National Stadium.

On Friday, he is due to lead Mass in Chiclayo. His final day includes Mass at Las Palmas Air Base, followed by a scheduled 1:45 p.m. flight to Rome.