image source, Reuters
"The Pope came home and Chiclayo is a party," Lisbeth Díaz, a Venezuelan teacher living in this northern Peruvian city, tells me, who worked with Pope Leo XIV when he served as bishop here between 2015 and 2023.
Peru is the longest visit of the first tour in Latin America of the Supreme Pontiff, named Robert Prevost, elected in May 2025.
The Pope also visited Argentina and Uruguay, but for him and the Peruvians, the visit to the Andean country has a particular meaning.
Prevost not only lived several stages in Peru between 1985 and 2023, but also obtained Peruvian nationality in 2015 and developed a close bond with the population.
Here in Chiclayo it is very common to meet people who call themselves "friends" of the Pope or with a special anecdote that they have shared.
I used to try Peruvian delicacies at Trébol, a restaurant next to the Cathedral.
That he loved playing tennis.
Or that during some serious floods in 2017 he appeared on horseback and in boots with water up to his knees helping those affected.
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Several of these images are in a small museum set up in his honor at the entrance to the archbishopric.
image copyrightPaulo Koba
But for the city and the country that calls him the "Peruvian Pope", this return home is much more than a collection of images and anecdotes.
"It is the return of the man who brought Peruvians closer to the Church," explains the parish priest Samuel David Miranda Atoche, from Chiclayano, to me.
The Pope's curriculum in Peru
Miranda Atoche was ordained by the then bishop of Chiclayo, Prevost, in 2018.
With him he has shared several anecdotes and moments. He remembers one that he believes sums up well the qualities of Leo XIV.
"We met at a meal, I approached him to talk and he offered me to eat his dessert. He was always that close and warm with everyone," says this young priest.
In addition to Chiclayo, Prevost developed a large part of his pastoral life in northern Peru. He also lived in cities such as Chulucanas or Trujillo, in the Piura region.
He lived through several turbulent moments in Peruvian history.
When he arrived in Peru in the 1980s, the country was marked by armed conflict between the State and left-wing insurgent groups, mainly the Shining Path.
Later, between 2017 and 2023, it experienced climate emergencies caused by the El Niño phenomenon and the coronavirus pandemic, making Peru one of the countries with the highest mortality in the world.
He also dealt with the controversies and scandal of the dissolution of Sodalicio, a Peruvian religious organization accused of sexual abuse cases for decades.
Santiago Roncagliolo, a Peruvian writer and journalist who investigated Prevost's life, says that his management of that crisis earned him the favoritism of the previous Pope, Francis, and launched his career toward the papacy.
Work for unity
The square where the Chiclayo Cathedral is located is the headquarters of an unstoppable celebration.
It is expected that this city and its surroundings, with around 800,000 inhabitants, will at least double their influx during the two days of Leo XIV's stay, on November 13 and 14.
On the street, businesses take advantage of the Pope's brand to increase their sales, hotels multiply the price of the bed per night and large recorded music speakers compete for who can sound the loudest with several live shows on a stage.
Amidst this hustle and bustle, Lisbeth Díaz tells me about the Pope's bond with migrants like her, another of the tasks that he is most recognized for in the city.
"It was not easy for him to see so many migrants living on the streets. So he contacted Immigration and coordinated with other organizations to expedite the regularization and work papers for many of us," she says enthusiastically.
"If there is something that the monsignor worked on here, it was unity," says Father Samuel David.
And that unity included communion between migrants and locals, but also the greater integration of traditionally abandoned neighborhoods.
In José Leonardo Ortiz, an area next to Chiclayo with high rates of exclusion, locals remember how much Leo XIV visited them, unlike predecessor bishops or politicians who rarely set foot in the neighborhood.
Pilgrimage from all over Peru
In Pimentel, about 10 kilometers from Chiclayo, there are people who kept vigil for more than 12 hours.
Pilgrims from all over Peru went to a massive open field where the Pope made a special mass official this November 13.
"We spent the night praying, praying, in the company of family, excited to receive the Chiclayano Pope," Isa Orderique tells me.
Merli Cruz Guerrero, from a border area next to Ecuador in northern Peru, traveled several hours by bus to get here. It's been all night too.
Of all the Pope's events in Peru, this one seems especially emotional.
The people remained in an eerie silence as the successor of Saint Peter approached. They waited excitedly for long hours in the heat.
Several people who described to me what they felt had their eyes watering.
For many here, the fact that Leo XIV has worked so much in this land has put them on the map of Catholicism in the world.
Which gives a different image to a country marked by the weakness and instability of politics and the State, inequality, growing insecurity and serious vulnerability to climate change.
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