CHICLAYO, Peru, Nov 13 — A vast crowd gathered outside Peru's northern city of Chiclayo on Friday for the centrepiece event of Pope Leo XIV's 12-day South America tour, an outdoor Mass with the people who knew him as their bishop for eight years.
More people were heading in vehicles and on foot to an arid field just outside Chiclayo, a city 10,700km from Rome, where the former Robert Prevost, elected leader of the Catholic Church last year, is still described as "Padre" (Father) or "Amigo" (Friend).
Lines of cars forced many to walk part of the way to Pampas de Pimentel, a vast desert park west of the city where Leo will lead Friday's Mass. Among them was Karina Chinglay, 40, walking with her mother and two children, all in matching Pope Leo shirts.
"We knew it was going to be quite a large turnout, but we did not imagine the scale of it," she said under the unforgiving Pacific coast sun.
Along the road, vendors sold hats, mini pope dolls, and sweet Peruvian bread.
His Holiness, originally from Chicago, is visiting Peru on the emotional final leg of a three-nation tour. In just over a week in South America, the pontiff has drawn an estimated 10 million people to public events.
On Wednesday, he declared that the country where he served as a missionary for about 20 years was his homeland.
The Pope arrived in Chiclayo from Lima on Friday morning aboard a plane decorated with "#LeoXFliesHome" stickers. He will stay in the area until Sunday to lead eight events, including a private dinner with the priests who once reported to him as bishop.
Chiclayo, Peru's fourth-largest city, where agriculture supports the economy, has a population of about 620,000.
Some worshippers camped overnight at the Pampas de Pimentel, including Maria Esther Chozo Reyes, 76, who took a 12-hour bus ride from Lima and arrived Thursday afternoon.
"He knows the people of Chiclayo, and he has lived here; he made his mission here. We really need his blessing," she said.
Others said they had set off days prior from neighbouring Ecuador.
Local resident Luzmila Cornejo, 66, knew the pope from when he was bishop in Chiclayo.
"It is his dear Chiclayo. It is emotional to see him," she said.
Crowds for His Holiness' visit to Peru have been the largest of his 18-month papacy, with some three million gathering in Lima on Wednesday after his arrival from Argentina. Officials in Chiclayo estimate that a million could attend the Mass there. The Pope also visited Uruguay on the tour.
The pontiff, who began his South America tour less than a month after lung cancer surgery, has appeared in good form on one of the most intense foreign tours a Pope has undertaken in decades.
In Peru, His Holiness enthusiastically greeted crowds on rides in an open-air popemobile, made unannounced appearances on the balcony of the Vatican Embassy in Lima, where he was staying, and sang local songs at events.
