"Return also to my homeland": After a triumphant farewell from Argentina, the Pope arrived in Peru, his second home.

LIMA.- A tide of hundreds of thousands of men, women, children, families, and the elderly, packed into the streets, waving white and yellow balloons, red and white Peruvian flags, images of saints, devotions, wooden crosses, and welcome signs reading "Welcome home Pope Leo XIV." Three million people took to the streets of Lima to give a triumphant welcome to "don Roberto," the adopted son of Peru who returned home. If in Argentina the scale of Leo's three-day visit was striking, what was seen this Wednesday in Lima was even greater. And, as expected, it foreshadows that what will happen here in the coming days will exceed all that came before. The third and final leg of this trip is, in fact, the one most anticipated by the Pontiff. As he himself explained on the flight between Rome and Montevideo—the first leg of this marathon—Peru is the second home of Robert Prevost. Leo XIV alongside President Keiko Fujimori after their meeting at the Government PalaceERNESTO BENAVIDES - AFPHe was a young Augustinian missionary in his youth in Chulucanas, Piura, a very poor area of Peru, and in 2014, after serving two terms as prior of the Augustinians, it was Pope Francis who sent him to this country, first as apostolic administrator and then as bishop of Chiclayo. Precisely by becoming a member of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference, the Pope born in Chicago obtained Peruvian citizenship. No wonder jubilation erupted when he stepped down from the stairs of the Aerolíneas Argentinas plane that brought him after 4 hours and 20 minutes of flight from Buenos Aires. Shouts of joy filled the El Callao airport, where the newly inaugurated President Keiko Fujimori awaited him at the foot of the plane's stairs. With an evidently happy face, the Pope was immediately surrounded by children wearing T-shirts with the visit's motto "let us open our hearts." During the journey that took the Pope from the airport to the Pizarro Palace, seat of government, where he had a welcome ceremony at which he surprised everyone by singing the Peruvian anthem, the papal convoy could barely move due to the crowds that had come out to the streets. He was expected to deliver his first speech on Peruvian soil later, at a meeting at the Gran Teatro Nacional with authorities, civil society, and the diplomatic corps. Beyond the pride of being the second Latin American country to have a Pontiff, Catholicism remains deeply rooted in Peru, where around 76% of its 34 million inhabitants identify as Catholic, and 91% of the population had been baptized in the Catholic faith as of 2024. Another 14% profess to be evangelical. View of the Plaza de Armas and the Cathedral of Lima as people gather to receive Leo XIV LUIS ACOSTA - AFPLeo XIV, who knows the country well, knows he is arriving in a politically unstable country, marked by polarization in the political sphere and widespread corruption. Despite having abundant resources, the national poverty rate stood at 25.7% in 2025, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics. This means that nearly 9 million Peruvians live in poverty; of them, around 74.1% reside in urban areas, mainly in the metropolitan area of Lima and Callao. The unemployment rate was 4.4% last September. Internal problemsSince Pope Francis visited the country in January 2018, both the State and the Church have gone through internal problems. The Peruvian political landscape has been marked by institutional instability over the last 12 years, with a rapid succession of presidents (eight since Francis's visit). There has been intense conflict between the Executive and Legislative branches, along with scandals of systemic corruption, in a context of growing social protests. The current president, Keiko Fujimori—a right-wing politician who advocates for a hard line against crime and "law and order" policies—was elected in June and became the hostess of a Pope who, through his own experience in Peru, knows the Fujimori family's trajectory well. Leo XIV travels through downtown Lima aboard the popemobileScreenshotAfter less than 48 hours in Uruguay and three days in Argentina, Leo—who less than a month ago underwent surgery for lung cancer, from which he recovered astonishingly—will spend five days in Peru and visit four cities: Lima—where he will stay at the Nunciature; Chiclayo—the diocesan seat in the northwest where he was bishop, which he will return to on November 13, coinciding with the anniversary of the birth of Saint Augustine and the celebration of all the saints of his order; Cusco—at 3,400 meters above sea level in the central Peruvian Andes, which was the heart of the Inca Empire; and Pucallpa, in the Amazon rainforest. This Thursday, the Pope will begin by meeting with the Peruvian bishops at the archbishop's residence in Lima. He will then celebrate the midday prayer at the Cathedral of Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist alongside bishops, priests, men and women religious, seminarians, synodal teams, and pastoral councils. From there, he will go to the square in front of the cathedral for a public meeting on "the challenges and hopes for the future of the Peruvian people," which will be attended by families as well as representatives from the cultural and business sectors. In the afternoon, he will meet with members of the Order of Saint Augustine in Peru, before presiding over a prayer vigil with young people and university students at the National Stadium—with a capacity of 40,000 people. The Pope will conclude the day dining with the bishops at the Nunciature. On the morning of Friday, November 13, he will take a one-and-a-half-hour flight from Lima to the coastal city of Chiclayo, in northwestern Peru. A triumphant reception is expected in his beloved Chiclayo, the diocese that Leo XIV named on May 8, 2025, when he stepped out onto the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica to present himself to the world. He will spend two nights at the episcopal residence, where he lived for more than eight years. Shortly after his arrival, he will celebrate Mass at the "Pampas de Pimentel," a vast desert plain near the city. Afterward, he will travel 14.5 km to pray at the chapel of Saint Óscar Romero, located in the La Victoria neighborhood of Chiclayo. The bishop feels a special affection for that community—from which his secretary, Monsignor Edgard Rimaycuna Inga, hails—and for the martyr bishop, venerated for his defense of the poor against military repression in El Salvador; in fact, he often carries with him a holy card and a relic of the saint. Bishop Prevost secured funds from the United States to rebuild what was once a chapel in a state of ruin. By Elisabetta Piqué