Pope Leo returns to what is expected to be a national party in his second homeland of Peru

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Pope Leo returns to what is expected to be a national party in his second homeland of Peru

LIMA, Peru — Pope Leo XIV headed to his second homeland on Wednesday, returning to the place that he credits with teaching him how to be a pastor and where a nationwide party awaits to welcome their beloved “Padre Robert” home.

The visit to Peru marks the final leg of Leo’s three-nation South America tour and its emotional highlight, given the more than two decades that the former Robert Prevost spent in Peru as a missionary priest and later bishop. As a dual citizen of the United States and Peru, he’s the first pope from each country.

“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 city of Chiclayo near the Pacific Coast. Across from her office, a life-size cardboard cutout of the pope now welcomes visitors to his former residence.

“Peru is the crown of the trip, the homecoming of the first Peruvian pope, no matter where he was born,” said Gustavo Morello, an associate professor of sociology at Boston College and the author of “Lived Religion in Latin America.”

In preparation for the pope’s visit, a huge 46-foot statue of the pontiff was unveiled in the port of El Callao. Baristas in Lima, the capital, were offering cappuccinos decorated with the image of the pope.

Popemania also hit Chiclayo. Leo is painted in colorful murals, emblazoned on T-shirts, baseball hats, and even bobblehead dolls and ice creams.

Leo will celebrate Mass in all his old stomping grounds including at the nearby sanctuary of St. Turibius of Mogrovejo in Zaña, a city that is a hub of Afro-Peruvian culture, and where the pope often visited to pray to the saint of his devotion.

Since Leo knows his adopted country so well, his speeches will be closely watched, especially one he’ll deliver from the square in front of Lima’s cathedral “on the challenges and hopes for the future of the Peruvian people.”

Peru, a nation of 34 million people, is overwhelmed by challenges, among them the looming arrival of…

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