Children in brightly woven ponchos and embroidered skirts greeted the pope as he stepped off the plane for the latest stop on an intense 12-day trip through Uruguay, Argentina and Peru.
Pope Leo XIV on Sunday faced his toughest physical test since undergoing lung cancer surgery, visiting high-altitude Cusco on the final full day of his South America tour.
The 71-year-old pontiff, who had part of a lung removed a month ago, arrived in the ancient Inca capital, more than 3,400 metres (11,000 feet) above sea level -- high enough to leave many a visitor breathless.
Children in brightly woven ponchos and embroidered skirts greeted the pope as he stepped off the plane for the latest stop on an intense 12-day trip through Uruguay, Argentina and Peru.
"To be honest, I thought it might be cancelled," said Valentin Cruz Turpo, aged 29. "But I still had hope, because God is powerful and can do anything."
Hundreds of thousands lined the streets of a city that for centuries before the Spanish conquest was the "navel of the world" -- a hub of learning and discovery in art, science and culture.
The pope visited a vast stone fortress that crowns a hill above Cusco, where troupes of musicians and ritual dancers from across the mountains gathered for a prayer service.