Peru celebrates Pope Leo XIV as one of their

Halfway through the first speech of Leo XIV as a pope, which he said in Italian, he stopped and asked if he could say a few words in Spanish.

Smiling, he continued: “A greeting to all and in particular to my dear diocese of Chiclayo, Peru.”

The first American pope is a citizen of Peru and spent a large part of his life there, traveling between the two countries for decades until 2014, when Pope Francis appointed bishop of the diocese of Chiclayo in the north of the country.

On Thursday, the Peruvians rejoiced at the appointment of one of their own to the highest position of the Catholic Church.

Standing near the Cathedral of Lima shortly after Bells rang to celebrate the appointment, the professor of the primary school Isabel Banez said: “For us Peruvians, it is a source of pride that it is a pope who represents our country.”

Prévost often said that he had “come from Chicago to Chiclayo – the only difference is a few letters,” the Associated Press news agency told the Associated Press press agency.

He would have referred to Peru, where about three -quarters of people are Catholic, like “Mi Segunda Patria” – my second homeland.

The president of Peru, Dina Voluarte, described Pope Leo as Peruvian “by choice and conviction”.

“The pope is Peruvian; God loves Peru,” she said.

Born in Chicago in 1955, he was the son of Louis Marius Prevost, of French and Italian origin, and Mildred Martinez, of Spanish origin.

After completing studies in theology in Chicago and in canon law in Rome, the Catholic Church sent him to Peru for the first time.

He arrived at the Augustinian mission in Chulucanas, in the Peruvian department of Piura, in 1985, aged 30 and the following year, joined the mission in Trujillo. For almost three decades, he worked between the United States and Peru.

Then, in 2014, Pope Francis appointed Prévost Bishop of Chiclayo, a position he assumed the following year, after having become Peruvian citizen.

Jose Luis Perez Guadalupe, who was the minister responsible for the signing of prevost’s naturalization, told BBC Mundo that he was “a very attentive and very thoughtful man, who listened more than he spoke”.

These are his first meetings with a country that came to shape his life.

Janinna Sesa, who met Prevost while working for the church’s non -profit organization, told the Associated Press during the torrential rains in 2022, he waded in the mud to help the people of Chiclayo and neighboring villages.

He also delivered food and blankets to distant Andean villages, leading a white and sleeping van on a thin mattress on the floor. There, said SESA, Prevost ate everything that was offered to it, including the peasant regime made up of potatoes, cheese and sweet corn.

But, if the opportunity arose, he would appreciate Carne Asada – one of his favorite dishes – accompanied by a glass of Coca -Cola.

He was also interested in cars. “He has no problem repairing a broken down truck until he works,” said SESA.

Prévost was the engine of buying two oxygen production factories during the coronavirus pandemic, which killed more than 217,000 people across Peru.

“He worked so hard to find help, that there was not only enough for a plant, but for two oxygen plants,” said SESA.

Edinson Farfán, the Peruvian bishop of Chiclayo since 2024, said that Pope Leo would continue the heritage of Pope Francis to work with the poor and defend “a church with open doors”. He was “very close to Pope Francis,” he said.

“He was undoubtedly deeply influenced by this particular church of Chiclayo. Chiclayo is a city that greatly appreciates the simple faith of his people. He has a particular affection for the diocese.”

“He is his beloved diocese, he is his life. He learned here everything he can share and share with the whole world.”

But everyone in the country is not proud of his file.

Serious accusations were brought about his management of sexual abuse cases during his time as bishop of Chiclayo.

In 2023, three Peruvian women were made public with the claims that as a bishop, he did not investigate their reports to have been mistreated in adolescence by two priests in Chiclayo, going back to 2007. They declared that when they had raised their allegations with the diocese in 2022, no appropriate investigation was opened.

Church officials of Chiclayo declared that measures had been taken and that the accused priests were suspended from precaution and that the case was returned to the Vatican Dicastery for the doctrine of the faith, which manages serious cases of abuse.

The diocese said that it was Rome’s decision to put aside the case without a complete canonical trial and that he had conducted a preliminary investigation.

These allegations concerning his leadership are one of the challenges he will face as he now directs the Church in the world.

Perez Guadalupe said that even if Prévost was mainly focused on religious issues in Peru, he was “very attentive to the reality” of the country.

In 2023, when violent anti -government demonstrations after the eviction of the president of the time, Pedro Castillo, left 49 dead, Prévost told Peruvian media that he felt “a lot of sorrow and a lot of pain”.

That year, Pope Francis called Prévost in Rome to serve as a prefect of the Dicastery for the bishops, the powerful head of the office who takes in view of the nominations of bishops around the world and one of the most important jobs in the Catholic Church. He was also appointed president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

Prevost said he had asked Pope Francis to allow him to stay in Peru longer.

As he heard that Prévost was the new pope, Thomas Nicolini, a Peruvian who studies the economy in Rome, went to Saint-Pierre square.

He said to the AP that Chiclayo is: “A beautiful region, but one of the regions that needs a lot of hope.”

“So, now, I expect the new pope to help as many people as possible and try to revive, say, the faith that young people have lost.”