Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today.
Pope Leo XIV arrived in Peru, his adopted homeland, on Wednesday to begin the final leg of his South American tour, returning to the place he credits with shaping his pastoral ministry and where nationwide celebrations await his return home as their beloved "Padre Robert".
The visit serves as the emotional centerpiece of his three-nation journey across the continent, reflecting the more than two decades the former Robert Prevost spent in Peru serving as a missionary priest and later bishop. Holding dual citizenship in both the United States and Peru, he is the first pope from each country.
Upon touching down aboard a charter aircraft at an air base near Lima, Leo was formally received by President Keiko Fujimori.
Former staff members expressed deep emotion ahead of his arrival. "My heart is so excited that it makes me want to cry with joy," said Zuly Castillo, who served as Leo’s secretary when he was bishop of the northern coastal city of Chiclayo. A life-size cardboard cutout of the pope now welcomes visitors opposite her office in his former residence.
Highlighting the significance of the return, Gustavo Morello, an associate professor of sociology at Boston College and the author of "Lived Religion in…
