Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected Thursday by the conclave to function pope, changing into Pope Leo XIV on the age of 69.
Prevost, a missionary who devoted his profession to ministry in Peru and led the Vatican’s highly effective bishops’ workplace, was elected the primary American pope within the 2,000-year historical past of the Catholic Church.
On the time of his election, the town of Chiclayo, seat of the Diocese of Chiclayo, took heart stage grabbing the eye of the world. It’s because His Holiness lived in Peru for many years, residing in Chiclayo for practically 10 years when he served as bishop from 2015 to 2023, after acquiring Peruvian citizenship.
A metropolis filled with magnificence centered on historical past and nature
Chiclayo is positioned rather less than 9 miles from the Pacific Ocean and is the capital of the Division of Lambayeque.
It’s a metropolis of lower than a million inhabitants (it has about 800,000) and performs a significant position as a industrial hub for Peru’s northern coast, because of highways that join it to the Andes Mountains and the Amazon. Its surrounding lands are agriculturally productive.
The town has develop into a preferred vacationer vacation spot resulting from its beautiful seashores, structure, and historic websites.
In line with the federal government’s web site, Chiclayo’s vacationer sights embrace:
Chiclayo is thought for its 8,000-hectare pure refuge. The Laquipampa Wildlife Refuge is house to tons of of wildlife native to the realm. Laquipampa can be house to the jaguarundi puma.
Moreover, Sipán, Huaca Rajada, is a historic archaeological advanced relationship again to 250 AD, changing into a preferred spot because of the tomb of the Lord of Sipán, an historical Moche ruler from the third century.
One other vacationer attraction in Chiclayo is the Misplaced Inca Lagoon, which was found in 2003. It acquired its identify as a result of it’s positioned close to a bit of the Inca Path.
Getty Photographs
Getty Photographs
Señor de Sipán tomb in Chiclayo, Peru.
However regardless of its financial affect, Chiclayo faces social issues, with roughly 20% of its inhabitants residing in poverty.
It’s on this juxtaposition, filled with magnificence but in addition social issues, that Pope Leo XIV exercised his duties as bishop of the Diocese of Chiclayo.
The Diocese of Chiclayo was created on Dec. 17, 1956, by Pope Pius XII.
The Diocese of Chiclayo has 48 parishes and two pastoral sectors. The parishes are distributed amongst 5 pastoral zones.
Getty Photographs
Getty Photographs
This aerial view reveals the cathedral of Chiclayo in northern Peru on Could 8, 2025. US-born pontiff Robert Francis Prevost, elected Pope on Could 8, grew to become a Peruvian nationwide in 2015 and devoted greater than 20 years as a missionary in Peru. (Picture by ERNESTO BENAVIDES / AFP) (Picture by ERNESTO BENAVIDES/AFP through Getty Photographs)
Everybody is aware of Leo XIV within the Peruvian metropolis of Chiclayo
Within the Peruvian metropolis of Chiclayo, nearly everybody is aware of Pope Leo XIV, who walked by means of its streets and impoverished villages for nearly a decade till he left for Rome in 2023, summoned by his predecessor Francis to imagine the presidency of the Pontifical Fee for Latin America.
Restaurant waiters, like Alonso Alarcón, say that Robert Prevost as soon as sat at their tables consuming ceviche, the dish of fish marinated in lemon juice. And taxi driver Hugo Pérez claims to have seen him many occasions driving his modest automobile by means of the town or in a pickup truck heading to the outlying villages hit by the heavy rains of 2022.
Catholic trustworthy like Alejandro Bazalar, a member of the Brotherhood of the Lord of Miracles of Chiclayo, confirmed a photograph of the now pope washing his toes and recalled that in 2019 he celebrated a Mass for his deceased dad and mom.
“He is a very humble man; we Chiclayanos never imagined that God’s representative on Earth would live among us,” he stated.
Others, like Ricardo Ulloque, bear in mind him holding a microphone and singing “I wanna wish you a merry Christmas,” an English-language model of José Feliciano’s bilingual music “Feliz Navidad,” in December 2017, accompanied by a small band of guitars and drums throughout a youth gathering.
However the pope has additionally left his mark on one other metropolis referred to as Chulucanas, within the Piura area, the place Prevost labored. Mildred Camacho, a 28-year-old lady, remembers him as her godfather.
“When I saw he was elected, I ran to my father shouting, ‘Daddy, my godfather has become the pope,’” Mildred informed native media. She added that when Prevost left for Rome, he stored in contact together with her and even despatched her a photograph of him working with then-Pope Francis.
“You feel like he’s a real godfather,” she stated.
The residents of Chiclayo respect that regardless of having develop into pope, Prevost has not forgotten them — in any case, in his first phrases as pontiff to the gang cheering him in St. Peter’s Sq. on Thursday, he greeted in Spanish “my beloved diocese of Chiclayo, in Peru, where a faithful people have accompanied their bishop and shared their faith.”
Because of the stage of poverty within the metropolis, it was these sectors that Pope Leo XIV, previously often called Robert Prevost, helped.
Throughout the intense rains of 2022 and 2023, the now Pope Leo XIV drove a van transporting provides to rural villages alongside the La Leche River.
Amid the floods, he walked carrying rubber boots with a cross necklace round his neck.
Janinna Sesa, an engineer,met Prevost when she labored for the worldwide group Caritas. Sesa stated that Prevost was additionally instrumental within the buy of two oxygen manufacturing crops throughout the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed greater than 217,000 folks in Peru.
“He worked so hard to find help that it wasn’t just enough for one plant, but for two oxygen plants,” she emphasised.
Sesa additionally remembers him driving one other truck, crossing rivers to probably the most distant Quechua-speaking villages, like Incahuasi. There, he spent the night time on skinny mattresses and ate the peasant weight loss plan of cheese, boiled potatoes, and corn, she recalled.
“He doesn’t think twice in fixing a broken-down truck until it runs,” Sesa stated.
