Holycopter ride! Pope Leo sits in the cockpit as Peruvian Air Force flies him to Cusco

Detailed summary

The helicopter ride on Saturday brought Pope Leo to the mountain city of Cusco, one of many stops on his busy Latin America visit to three countries in 12 days.

Published: 22:21 GMT, 15 November 2026 | Updated: 22:21 GMT, 15 November 2026

Pope Leo XIV entered the cockpit and waved to the crowd, as he was flown by the Peruvian Air Force to Cusco during the final leg of his three-country tour of Latin America.

The Pope, who had recently had part of his lung removed as part of his cancer treatment, neatly folded his robes, sat down and calmly donned a headset, chatting to the pilots as they flew him over Chiclayo on Saturday.

He had served as the bishop for the city for eight years, and the Pope - who was wearing his traditional white cassock and pectoral cross - smiled as he waved out of the window to the crowds of devoted Catholics below.

The helicopter ride on Saturday brought Pope Leo to the mountain city of Cusco, one of many stops on his busy Latin America visit to three countries in 12 days.

The mission saw the religious leader take more than 12 flights and covered over 18,600 miles across Argentina, Uruguay and Peru.

The Pope took the chopper ride to his first stop of Cusco, the former capital of the Inca empire.

There, Leo praised people's traditional expression of popular piety, such as processions and religious festivals, as effective ways of forging community and transmitting the faith - especially to young people.

Huge crowds lined Cusco's cobblestoned streets and packed its central Plaza de Armas, an imposing square decorated with a blend of Inca and Spanish colonial buildings.

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