Pope Leo XIV reaches Cusco in the Andes on Peru's most demanding day

A demanding day in the Andes

Leo XIV landed in Cusco on Sunday, 15 November, on the tenth day of his South American trip and what the reports describe as its most intensive day, with three flights planned. Cusco, the historic capital of the Inca Empire, lies in south-eastern Peru at about 3,400 metres above sea level. The pope had reached that altitude a month and two days after an operation to remove a lung tumour. He flew to Cusco from Chiclayo, his former diocese, where he had spent the last two days of the visit.

Farewell to Chiclayo

He left the episcopal residence in Chiclayo, where he had slept as he did when he was bishop, and walked toward crowds that had been waiting in the rain since before dawn. Notícias ao Minuto puts his service as bishop of the city at eight years, while Deutsche Welle says almost nine. Notícias ao Minuto also reports that he spent more than twenty years in Peru in different periods between 1982 and 2023, when Pope Francis called him to the Vatican. Speaking as he left the residence, he said:

“May Chiclayo always be the capital of friendship, but also a city, a province, a land of faith, devotion and loyalty.”

Zaña and a final message to the diocese

During his last days in Chiclayo he visited Zaña, a town 40 kilometres away where around 14,000 families live and where there is no drinking water. More than 50 paso horses escorted him over the final kilometre to the ruins, and about 300,000 people lined the roads. Some 10,000 people heard him at the closing of the jubilee year marking the third centenary of the canonization of Toribio de Mogrovejo, patron of Latin American bishops. He urged the faithful never to grow accustomed to the suffering of others, and recalled the night before he began his ministry in Chiclayo, when he prayed for the grace to be a shepherd after God's own heart. He told them:

“Today, looking back over the years, I understand that you have been part of God's answer to that plea.”

Helicopter transfer and Andean mass

Peruvian Air Force footage shows the pope smiling and talking with pilots in the cockpit of a helicopter during the transfer to Santa Cruz de Succhabamba in the Cajamarca region, above 2,000 metres. The flight from Chiclayo took 47 minutes, after which the pope celebrated mass in front of more than 20,000 faithful at that altitude. The visit marks his return to the country that became his adopted home, where he acquired Peruvian citizenship and where he first arrived as a missionary 40 years ago.

Schedule in Cusco and Pucallpa

The plan published in advance starts in Cusco with a meeting with the faithful and groups of popular piety at the Sacsayhuamán fortress, set for 10:30 local time. At 11:45 the pope is due in Cusco's main square to recite the Angelus and hand over a shroud to the Lord of Tremors, the city's patron. Later the same day, at 15:00 local time, he is scheduled to meet missionaries and representatives of Amazonian indigenous peoples in Pucallpa, then celebrate a homily at the Villa Deportiva Regional, where tens of thousands were expected.

The day ends in Lima. The Peru leg lasts six days and follows earlier stops in Uruguay and Argentina.