Thousands of Catholics gathered on Saturday for an outdoor mass in the Peruvian city of Chiclayo to celebrate the election of Pope Leo XIV, who for years lived, ate and prayed among them.
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The first American head of the Catholic Church spent nine years in the commercial hub along the Pacific coast, where he is claimed as one of their own.
Chiclayo “is a simple town that he loved deeply and that he continues to carry in his heart,” Chiclayo Bishop Edinson Farfan told a packed congregation at St Mary’s Cathedral.
Pope Leo, born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago, first set foot in Peru four decades ago as a missionary.
He returned to the city in 2014 and the following year was named bishop, becoming a naturalised Peruvian citizen in the process.
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He remained there until he was summoned to Rome by his predecessor, the late Pope Francis, in 2023.
In his first address from the Vatican on Thursday, Leo briefly greeted his “beloved diocese of Chiclayo” in Spanish and paid homage to his “faithful people.”