Peruvians are enthusiastically celebrating the election of Pope Leo XIV as the 267th Bishop of Rome on Thursday, as the pope, born Robert Francis Prevost Martinez, spent many years as a missionary of the Church in Peru and holds dual American and Peruvian citizenship.
Pope Leo XIV is the first American head of the Catholic Church, born in Chicago, Illinois, on September 14, 1955. The newly-elected Pope has a deep connection to Peru, a South American country where he served for nearly 40 years — since 1985, first as a missionary and then as Archbishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023. Prevost obtained Peruvian citizenship in 2015.
Pope Leo XIV, during his first address at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican, made a special mention in fluent Spanish to “my beloved diocese of Chiclayo.”
“And if you allow me also, a word, a greeting to all those, and particularly to my beloved diocese of Chiclayo, in Peru, where a faithful people have accompanied their bishop, have shared their faith, and have given so much, so much to continue being a faithful Church of Jesus Christ,” Pope Leo said before continuing his address in Italian.
Peruvians immediately began celebrating Pope Leo’s designation. Several local outlets highlighted the pope’s affinity to and connection with Peru and its people. In Chiclayo, where then-Bishop Prevost was highly regarded, jubilant faithful gathered outside the city’s Cathedral to celebrate the “pope with a Chiclayan heart.”
Local outlets also recounted Bishop Prevost’s April 2023 farewell speech, when he departed to Rome. At the time, Prevost highlighted the deep connection with Chiclayo and quoted the words of the founder of a group of missionaries who arrived from the United States in the past, stating, “A missionary goes where he is not wanted, but needed; and stays until he is wanted, but no longer needed.”
“We are very happy for this very beautiful election, a surprise. Having a Peruvian pope fills us with joy, with happiness, [Prevost] has always celebrated Sunday Mass here,” a Chiclayo parishioner reportedly said.
Peru’s Radio Programas del Perú (RPP) television channel published past pictures of Pope Leo XIV during his stay in Peru that Peruvians shared with the outlet on Friday morning.
On Thursday, RPP spoke with Mildred Camacho, goddaughter of Pope Leo XIV, who said that she felt great joy and emotion when she learned about her godfather’s election as head of the Church. She recounted that her father met the pope during the then-missionary’s 15-year work in the city of Chulucanas, became friends with the priest, and asked him to be the child’s godfather.
“I have photos of him at my baptism, at the ceremony and at the little party that was held,” Camacho said. “He was a very present person. Since he worked at the Vatican with Pope John Paul II, he would email his photos from his time there, working at the Vatican and in the Chapel.”
“When he came to Peru he would let my father know so that we could meet, a time before and after each mass to be able to greet each other and talk,” she added. “His tight schedule did not allow us to go out and spend time together, it was only a greeting before and at the end of his mass.”
RPP also interviewed Father Ramiro Castillo at the Santo Tomás de Villanueva Convent in the city of Trujillo, linked to the Order of St. Augustine, where Pope Leo lived for almost 10 years. Father Castillo showed RPP the bedroom then-Father Prevost occupied during the 1990s and said that the Augustinian Order in Trujillo was thrilled with the election of Pope Leo, assuring that his stay in that city was of great importance for his ecclesiastical formation.
“I think that being in Trujillo helped him to, let’s say, strengthen his faith, to feel that he was really called to serve in the Church. The fact that he came to this city is very important for us because it is a city with a strong Christian tradition, a strong Catholic tradition and a strong faith,” Father Castillo said.
Peruvian outlets highlighted the pope’s affinity for Peruvian cuisine. On Thursday, the Peruvian newspaper El Comercio recounted a February 2023 interview that then-Bishop Prevost gave to Exitosa Noticias — his last before departing to Rome after Pope Francis called him to serve as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. In the interview, Bishop Prevost was asked what his favorite Peruvian dishes were.
“The food is always very nice and everything is really positive in Chiclayo, in Lambayeque. What did I like most about the food? Well, lots and lots of things like ceviche, cabrito, seco — there are so many things I like,” he answered at the time.
El Comercio also recounted the time when the pope, as Bishop Prevost, blessed the empty streets of Chiclayo during the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic.
Sor Margarita Flores, a nun of the Order of the Canonesses of the Cross, who accompanied the Pope during his service as Bishop of Chiclayo, emphasized the pontiff’s closeness to the poorest of the poor in remarks given to local outlets. Sister Flores described him as “a very simple man, he liked to help the needy,” and recalled that he supported a soup kitchen in Chiclayo that is still in operation today.
“I think that God always listens to the cry of the people and has given us a pope who is close, both to the Peruvian people and to the whole world. He is a very educated and focused man, and he knows how to listen,” Sister Flores said, and revealed that green tamalitos is another of the pope’s favorite Peruvian dishes.
When he comes, I will take him to a restaurant to eat cabrito con loche, the way they prepare it in Chiclayo,” she added.
Peru’s National Superintendence of Migration published a note highlighting Pope Leo XIV’s American origin and Peruvian citizenship by naturalization, making him a dual citizen, which he obtained on August 24, 2015. The Superintendence also published a copy of the naturalization title on its social media accounts.
Theologist and Former Interior Minister of Peru José Luis Pérez Guadalupe, who signed Bishop Robert Prevost’s Peruvian naturalization process, spoke with the BBC and said that he met with the pope on numerous occasions. He described him as “a very attentive and very thoughtful man, who listened more than he talked.”
“We talked about pastoral issues and one of the concerns was that the Catholic Church was losing faithful in Latin America because of the growth of Christian churches,” Pérez Guadalupe said. “He was of the opinion that we had to bring the church closer to the faithful.”
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here
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