Pope Leo XIV is visiting the country, where he spent nearly a decade as bishop, during an 11-day South American tour
The walls in Chiclayo have been painted with colourful murals and banners welcoming Pope Leo XIV, but he is better known to residents of this city in northern Peru as “Padre Roberto” – a pastor who walked their streets, shared their love of local cuisine, and stood by them through natural disasters and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Robert Prevost, 71, who spent nearly a decade as the bishop here until he left in 2023, now returns as the Catholic church’s most powerful figure. Yet for the city’s faithful he remains humble and approachable, the characteristics that first endeared him to them.
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