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Archive photo · 25 September 2026Pope Léon XIV Returns to Chiclayo, Crowns the Virgin in Cathedral of Saint Mary
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Pope León XIV returns to Chiclayo, his former diocese, greeted by massive crowds. He leads the coronation rite of the Immaculate Virgin at the Cathedral of Saint Mary.
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Homecoming in Chiclayo
Pope Léon XIV returned to Chiclayo, Peru, where he had served as bishop between 2015 and 2023, and he celebrated the coronation rite of the Immaculate Virgin in the Cathedral of Saint Mary.
“Alongside you I learned to be the pastor of Chiclayo.”
León XIV told the faithful at the coronation ceremony, “Alongside you I learned to be the pastor of Chiclayo,” and he invited them “to continue walking together, as a single family of God.”
The pope blessed the crown with holy water before placing it on the image of the Virgin, and the gesture drew “extended applause from the faithful.”
Letters from Leo said the pope landed at the air base in Chiclayo just after 9 on Friday morning in a LATAM jet with “#LeonXIVvuelaaCasa” painted on its side, and dancers met him on the tarmac with the marinera norteña.
Vatican News reported that Leidy Rimaycuna, the sister of Pope Leo XIV’s personal secretary Msgr. Edgard Rimaycuna Inga, recalled that her brother began working with Bishop Robert Prevost in 2015 and later accompanied him again in 2023 when Prevost was called to Rome.
Crowds, heat, and prayers
Letters from Leo said about a million people lined the route of the pope’s popemobile toward Mass and that half a million more had been waiting for hours on the Pampas de Pimentel, where the temperature reached 90 degrees, according to EWTN. The Vatican estimated about a million people lined the papamobile route and about 500,000 attended the Mass, as the temperature neared 30 degrees Celsius as the temperature neared 30 degrees Celsius. Pope Léon XIV told the crowd, “What a joy it is to return to Chiclayo!” and he added, “With God’s help, I am overcoming,” while thanking the faithful for their prayers during his recent hospitalization for lung cancer.
NBC News said the pope’s sojourn to Chiclayo is midway through the final leg of his 12-day visit to South America, and it said he would stay in the area until Sunday to lead eight events. BBC News Mundo said the Mass in Pimentel, about 10 kilometers from Chiclayo, brought together pilgrims from all of Peru, and it said the city, home to about 800,000 inhabitants, was expected to double its influx during the two days of the visit.
Romero chapel and ministry
After crowning the Virgin, Pope Léon XIV approached the Chapel of Saint Oscar Arnulfo Romero, and El Mundo said the bells sounded for Saint Romero thanks to the song of the Panamanian Rubén Blades. Letters from Leo said the pope drove to El Bosque, a poor settlement in Chiclayo’s La Victoria district, for a private visit to the chapel of St. Óscar Romero, and it said Father José Alonso told EFE that no priest could ever raise the money to rebuild it until Father Edgard Rimaycuna took up the cause. El Mundo reported that the pope helped rebuild the enclosure raised in tribute to the Salvadoran bishop, murdered by death squads, and it said Prevost kept a photograph of the Salvadoran martyr in his office.
Leidy Rimaycuna recalled that during the COVID-19 pandemic her brother helped raise funds to install oxygen plants, and she said, “He got the whole community behind the fundraising, and in the end they were able to install two oxygen plants.” The pope later addressed words to the Immaculate Virgin, “To Your Immaculate Heart I entrust today my life and my ministry as Successor of Peter,” and it said he asked her to care for and protect the People of God who “pilgrim in these lands.”
