LIMA, Nov 12 - Throngs of people were flooding Lima's streets on Thursday as Pope Leo, the first Peruvian citizen to lead the Catholic Church, opened the second day of an emotional return visit home that has already broken crowd records.
Pilgrims, families and church groups had packed much of Lima's historic center, effectively shut down as people lined streets for miles, pressing against police and security barriers as Leo toured in an open-air popemobile.
Leo is on the final and most personal leg of a three-country tour of South America. Originally from Chicago, the pope spent about 20 years as a missionary and bishop in Peru and holds US and Peruvian citizenship.
In a speech on arrival in the country on Wednesday, amid a record crowd of 3 million on Lima's streets, the pope declared to wide applause at the Gran Teatro Nacional that he considered Peru his homeland.
Carmen Moreno, 78, wiped away tears after watching Leo's popemobile pass by on Wednesday evening in Lima's Plaza de Armas, where she had waited with her daughter for seven hours. She said his return felt deeply personal for Peruvians, who had embraced him long before he became pope.
"He is returning to the land where he became who he is," Moreno said.
