APTOPIX Peru Pope
Faithful cheer during a prayer vigil led by Pope Leo XIV at the National Stadium in Lima, on the seventh day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026.
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Pope Leo XIV has denounced the “machismo” and violence against women that is prevalent in Peru. He is demanding that women be protected and respected. He also met with six survivors of clergy sexual abuse, including from an abusive sect-like group in Peru. After his emotional homecoming Wednesday, the Peruvian pope got down to business Thursday and set out marching orders for the Peruvian church and people. He called the influential Catholic hierarchy to task to be models of unity and communion. And instructed Peruvian bishops especially to accompany their flocks and respond to victims of clergy sexual abuse with truth and justice.
Church organizers say as many as a million people could turn out for Pope Leo XIV’s first big Mass in Peru, being held Friday morning on a massive field outside Chiclayo, his former diocese. Chiclayo is the commercial hub of Peru’s northern Pacific coast. But much of the world heard about it on the night of Leo’s election, May 8, 2025, when he gave Chiclayo a shoutout, in Spanish, from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica. On Friday, he is finally going home and Chiclayo cannot wait.
