Chiclayo return anchors multi-day Peruvian tour
Pope Leo XIV arrived in Peru’s fourth-largest city on Friday, November 13, 2026, marking a central and highly sentimental stop on his 12-day South American tour NBC News reported. The pontiff’s arrival in Chiclayo follows his earlier arrival in Lima on Wednesday, November 11, where he met with President Keiko Fujimori. Leo served as bishop of Chiclayo for eight years, spending two decades in Peru as a missionary, priest, and bishop before becoming a citizen in 2015.
Crowds gathered along the motorcade route and at Pampas de Pimentel, a desert plain outside the coastal city of nearly 700,000 residents, waving Vatican flags and waiting overnight to catch a glimpse of the pontiff. NBC News noted that while crowds in Chiclayo were smaller than the estimated 3 million who welcomed the pope in Lima, their enthusiasm remained high.
Leadership, local ties, and health context
During his sermon, Pope Leo reflected on his time in the region and addressed his recent health challenges, noting that his lung cancer diagnosis and surgery to remove part of a lung a month prior had marked a period of trial. Known affectionately by locals as “Padre Roberto,” Leo championed social justice during his tenure, launching a fundraising drive for an oxygen plant during the pandemic and delivering food supplies during Cyclone Maku in March 2023.
The pontiff is scheduled to stay in the area until Sunday, leading eight events, including a private dinner with local priests who previously reported to him.
Welcoming crowds and personal reflections
The arrival in Chiclayo featured a plane decorated with “#LeoXFliesHome” stickers and a greeting sign at the airport bearing the same message. A small dance troupe performed before the pontiff stepped off the aircraft. The Vatican estimated that 1 million people had lined the motorcade route to the Mass and that 500,000 attended the main gatherings. Pilgrims traveled long distances to attend the events, including Maria Esther Chozo Reyes, 76, who took a 12-hour bus ride from Lima and arrived Thursday afternoon before camping overnight.
As he toured in an open-air popemobile at the Pampas de Pimentel, the vast desert plain just outside Chiclayo, the crowd erupted in cheers while vendors sold hats, mini pope dolls, and sweet Peruvian bread along blocked roads. Addressing the faithful, Pope Leo stated that his return felt like a homecoming, offering thanksgiving for the years he spent living and working among them.
Historical context and past engagements
Leo’s journey to South America also included stops in Argentina and Uruguay. While born in Chicago where English is his mother tongue, the first words he uttered from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica were a shoutout in Spanish to his beloved Diocese of Chiclayo. During his two decades in Peru, he was a critic of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori’s authoritarian regime and later spoke alongside recently-elected Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori at Lima’s Gran Teatro Nacional.
During that Lima appearance, Leo urged the country’s leaders to cultivate honesty and integrity to strengthen public trust, calling on officeholders to listen to their constituents. His return to his adoptive home earlier led to an amusing moment of confusion when he mistakenly began to deliver remarks in Italian before correcting himself and switching to Spanish, telling the crowd that he was simply speaking the language of his current Vatican residence out of habit before remembering he was back home.