Pope Leo XIV greets the faithful in St. Peter’s Square shortly after his election to the papacy, Thursday, May 8, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Lima Newsroom, May 9, 2025 / 14:49 pm (CNA).
In some of his first words to the world on May 8, newly-elected Pope Leo XIV recalled the land where he worked as a missionary from 1985 to 1998.
“And if you will allow me a word, a greeting to all those… in a particular way to my beloved Diocese of Chiclayo, in Peru,” he said.
Known as the “city of friendship,” Chiclayo is located in northern Peru, about 500 miles from the capital, Lima. Pope Francis appointed him apostolic administrator and then bishop of the Diocese of Chiclayo in 2014 and 2015 respectively. As bishop of Chiclayo and later as apostolic administrator of Callao, he also served as vice president of the Peruvian Bishops’ Conference (CEP by its Spanish acronym).
Father Guillermo Inca Pereda, deputy secretary of the CEP who worked closely with Pope Leo, shared with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, that “the excitement of hearing Cardinal Robert Prevost’s name called as pope, pastor of the universal Church, was truly indescribable, an unforgettable moment.”
“We worked with him, we shared many moments of decision-making in my role at the general secretariat. We have had many opportunities to converse, and I have been able to discover his prudence, his perseverance, his tenacity, and that simplicity that characterizes him, but always with great depth to resolve any issue, any situation, no matter how sensitive,” he added.
“He particularly helped me make decisions that were necessary in my daily work,” the Peruvian priest emphasized.
Pope Leo in Peru
The Augustinians in Peru serve in the vicariates of Iquitos in the Amazon region, San Agustín de Apurímac in the Andes, and San Juan de Sahagún de Chulucanas in northern Peru. The new pope came as a priest to San Juan in 1985, four decades ago.
He remained there until 1986, when he returned to Chicago. In 1988, he returned to Peru, this time to Trujillo — also in the north — where he worked as director of the common formation center for Augustinian aspirants from all of the three aforementioned vicariates.
For 11 years, he worked in various parishes and in various positions with the Augustinians, until he returned to the United States in 1999 to assume the position of prior provincial of the Augustinians in Chicago. He then served as prior general of the Augustinians from 2001 to 2013.
After returning from Rome to Chicago in 2013, Pope Francis appointed him apostolic administrator of Chiclayo, marking his return to Peru.
“I believe that his experience in Peru will give him the nuanced understanding that every pope can have in his heart, because he knows our people, he knows our country, he has experienced the people’s public expressions of faith, which is such a great asset we have among us, he has also seen situations where people are living in poverty, but even in the midst of these difficulties, he saw that hope was never lost,” Inca told ACI Prensa.
In January 2023, when then-Bishop Provost was chosen by Pope Francis to be prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops in the Vatican, he thanked the Peruvian prelates.
“We have walked together for more than eight years. I have felt welcomed, a very fraternal spirit with everyone, and the fraternity we share, the unity, and the witness from here to the entire Church in Peru and to all Peruvians have been a blessing.”
“I came as a missionary to Chulucanas almost 40 years ago, then 11 years in Trujillo and eight years in Chiclayo. I thank God for so many things the Peruvian people have shared with me. We have walked together and shared our faith,” he added.
The deputy secretary of the CEP told ACI Prensa that he is “sure that the heart of Pope Leo XIV, our beloved Cardinal Robert Prevost, will greatly help the world grow and improve.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
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Another political stunt.
SOL,
I expect some people got inspired to participate in this for political reasons but still, good for the KC helping these folks at Christmas time.
I don’t like immigration used as a tool to gain political power & a larger constituency for Democrats either, but you know without it we’re going to be in the same kind of demographic implosion as Europe & Japan face. Look at the current US birth rates. Pretty dismal.
The strategy should be to attract honest, hardworking Christian folk from South of the border & not alienate them so that they run straight into the arms of liberal politicians who want to use them to overturn conservative states like TX.
I don’t believe liberal Democrats have the immigrants’ best interest-witness their campaign to abort migrant girls’ infants. But liberals claim to & they don’t publicly show the hostility that many of our conservatives do. We might could learn something from that.
Why not try the novel idea of increasing the native American birthrate? There are many valid reasons to declare an immigration moratorium and no good ones for continuing mass Third World immigration.
Tony,
Amen to your comments. And if demographic trends continue, the majority population will eventually be traditional Catholics, Amish, orthodox Jews, and others who bother to reproduce themselves. But that may take some time.
Mrscracker, the groups you list will be swamped by the dispararte (they are hardly all Latin American or Christian) Third World mob that is being ushered into this country by a treasonous elite. They will be united, temporarily, anyway, by their resentment of the country that was foolish enough to let them in. When the remnant middle class backbone of Americais finally vanquished, the war of all against all that is barely being suppressed today, will begin in earnest. May I ask if you at least oppose Muslim immigration into Western countries?
Mrscracker,
In an age of the ongoing collapse of industrial systems predicated upon cheap energy and easy access to resources, the problem of population implosion will eventually take care of itself, as those who are willing to surmount the hardship and reproduce will replace those who cannot.
The case for increasing the population through the reception of immigrants is one predicated upon infinite growth, which is not sustainable, and as you noted, aids the leftist revolutionaries. Immigrants are already alienated in so far as they have and seek to maintain a different identity and wishful thinking will not cause integration or their voluntary abandonment of their identity. And hostility by those being overwhelmed by them is a natural and just response. Violence is more likely than not if their numbers continue to increase. At this point the consequences are probably already in motion and very little can probably be done to prevent them. What can be done though is for Roman Catholics to preserve the credibility of their church and religion, but their bishops are ignorant of the dangers of the current situation and they are content to think the status quo can eventually favor their institution.
In continuing their current course Latin bishops will discredit themselves and their religion if and when there is a reaction to the status quo and the elites behind it.
Well stated, SOL. Based on their extreme leftist position on immigration alone, it is very hard for this practicing Catholic to regard the great majority of the Church hierarchy as being anything other than an enemy of my family, country and civilization.
SOL,
Thank you for your comments too.
Our plummeting fertility rates don’t foretell anything like infinite growth. More likely shrinking and aging. Without immigration that’s going to happen a whole lot sooner.
A smaller population isn’t the problem as much as an age imbalanced population. If you take a look at the demographic data and projections you see increasing numbers of elderly and fewer and fewer young people entering the workforce.
Birth rates are falling globally in all but a couple regions. One day we may wish we had more Christian immigrants to fill the empty places in our nation.
I don’t believe mass immigration is a good idea nor do I believe in open borders but Americans seem to have so little appreciation of their own culture that they can’t be bothered to create another generation to pass it down to.
The economic system and the decisions of the elites are based on the fantasy of infinite growth.
“but Americans seem to have so little appreciation of their own culture that they can’t be bothered to create another generation to pass it down to.”
I suspect this may be more true of blue urban areas than red rural areas, which have other difficulties.
See this link for more on infinite growth: https://psmag.com/.amp/magazine/fallacy-of-endless-growth
Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem to comply with the census. How many people were in the same boat and were there because of the census? The story of Mary and Joseph not finding a room at an inn could be a story of a community overwhelmed by there being more people than the community could handle at one time.
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The USA may be a rich powerful nation, but it does not have unlimited resources. There are only so many people that the USA can admit at one time while maintaining an orderly immigration process. A responsible host doesn’t invite more guests than the host can provide hospitality for. Illegal immigrants are gate-crashers. The mess at the Southern border is what happens when you have a large number of gate-crashers.
SOL,
Thank you very much for the link to that article.
I think that illustrates exactly what the misconceptions are about population. People are still basing their fears on theories from the 1970’s. It’s not 1972 anymore and things have changed dramatically.
Population implosion is what we need to be concerned about in the coming decades.
Though it’s certainly not a Catholic book and the author doesn’t hold our views on contraception, etc., I’d really recommend reading “Factfulness ” by Hans Rosling. Things really have changed globally and will continue to change. Not necessarily for the better, but not what was predicted in 1972 either.
God bless!