Pope Leo returns to his homeland

Pope Leo with Peru's President Keiko Fujimori greets crowd at Grand National Theatre, Lima. Image: CC Presidencia Perú

Pope Leo XIV has urged Peruvian leaders to provide accessible health services for its people and strengthen preventative medicine to support families who care for the elderly, the sick and the vulnerable in the country which 'remains with me".

In his first address to government officials and the diplomatic corps after landing in the country he says helped form him as a pastor, the Pope highlighted his long held roots and urged leaders to protect the "everyday peace" of its people.

"Today, I understand how much of this land remains with me and how much of my own story also belongs to you," he said at Lima's Gran Teatro Nacional. "I can tell you with deep gratitude that I am returning to my homeland."

An estimated three million people turned out to welcome his motorcade route into Lima as he arrived around 5pm Wednesday, on the third and final leg of an 11 day South America tour that has seen him visit communities in Uruguay and Argentina.

In his remarks to Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori and government officials, the Pope said the Peruvian citizenship he acquired in 2015, solidified a bond that began when Peruvians, by sharing their lives with him over the two decades he served there as a missionary priest and later a bishop, helped form him as a pastor.

He invited them to confront the country's turbulent past saying "past events deserve to be treated with justice and sensitivity, leaving room for harmony to grow and for differences to be addressed with respect."

And he challenged Peruvian leaders to cultivate honesty, integrity and a willingness to engage with others. "Democratic life implies recognising that no one has all the answers and that difference do not prevent us from sharing a sincere concern for the good of the country".

During a moving and personal opening speech Pope Leo noted that the Church "is aware of the suffering caused by violence and wishes to remain close to those who endure it, encouraging the efforts of all who work to protect the life, dignity and rights of people through law and justice.

"There are certain goods that cannot be replaced by economic prosperity; 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 proposed the Social Doctrine of the Church as a guide to "enlighten and direct the efforts of all who work for the good of this nation" and concluded by asking the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Rose, and all the saints of the land that "the love of Christ may help you to recognise in every Peruvian, a brother or sister, and in each one, yet another reason to love your homeland".

Today the Pope will meet Peru's bishops and preside over Midday Prayer in Lima's Cathedral. He will participate in a meeting on the challenges and hopes of the Peruvian people in the square outside the Cathedral before moving on to Cusco where he will pray the Angelus at Sqsaywaman before travelling to Pucallpa in Peru's Amazon where he will meet with groups of the faithful and representatives of its indigenous peoples.

Peru, with a population of 34 million faces many challenges, notably a rise in violent crime and income equality as well as the potential for climate chaos with the anticipated arrival of this year's record breaking El Niño.

Pope Leo first arrived there in 1985 as an Augustinian missionary teaching canon law for just over a decade. He returned as Apostolic Administrator at the request of the late Pope Francis in 2014 and later became Archbishop of Chiclayo until September 2023 when he was called to Rome and made a Cardinal.

Watch highlights from Pope Leo's arrival in Peru here