The election of Pope Leo XIV has been celebrated throughout Latin America, the place many hailed him because the second pontiff from the area, following his Argentinian predecessor, Francis.
The information prompted specific elation in Peru, the place he lived and labored for greater than 20 years and was granted citizenship in 2015. Within the capital, Lima, the bells of the cathedral rang in celebration.
In his first look from the Vatican balcony, Leo XIV briefly switched from Italian to Spanish to deal with the devoted “from my beloved diocese of Chiclayo, in Peru”, the place he served as bishop for greater than a decade.
Peru’s President Dina Boluarte hailed the “historic” election of Leo XIV, whom she described as a Peruvian “by selection and conviction” who had devoted greater than 20 years of service to the nation. She added that Prevost, 69, “selected to be one in every of us, to reside amongst us and to hold in his coronary heart the religion, tradition and desires of this nation”.
She added: “The pope is Peruvian; God loves Peru.”
Even so, Prevost has spoken out in opposition to Boluarte’s authorities prior to now. In early 2023, he described his “disappointment and ache” over the deaths of 49 protesters in anti-government demonstrations that erupted when President Boluarte took workplace in December 2022, changing Pedro Castillo who was pressured out for making an attempt to droop congress.
On the time Prevost stated the unrest mirrored the historic neglect of Peru’s poor, saying: “This battle doesn’t signify the very best of the nation.”
Rosa María Vílchez, 49, who’s initially from Chiclayo however now lives in Lima, met Prevost when attending a church service just a few years in the past.
“We knew him by title,” she remembers. “At this time I remembered that after I noticed him and I actually felt like crying as a result of he moved me. He transmits numerous peace,” stated Vílchez, who was amassing her youngsters from college in Villa El Salvador, within the south of the capital.
“I hope that he brings slightly peace, that he can stabilise the nation ultimately, as a result of Peruvians are, primarily, very devoted and really Catholic. So, I believe he’s going to be a determine of political authority,” she added.
Cecilia Durand, 55, a writer in Lima, stated: “I’m not Catholic, in truth, there are various issues in regards to the church that I’m in opposition to, however I believe this can be a good factor for Peru. It’s like successful the World Cup!”
As information of Leo’s election started to sink in, social media in Peru was flooded with memes of the pope consuming ceviche, Peru’s flagship dish, and ingesting Inca Kola, its bubblegum-flavoured comfortable drink. Others confirmed him in Peru’s red-and-white soccer shirt and one other humorous picture confirmed the popemobile refashioned as a three-wheeled motorbike rickshaw, the principal mode of transport in a lot of the nation.
Colombia’s inside minister, Armando Benedetti, posted on social media that the years spent in Peru “imply the brand new pope is as soon as once more a Latin American”.
Some posts on social media jokingly claimed that the brand new pope was “extra Latino than all the solid of Emilia Pérez”, referencing the French movie that sparked controversy over its portrayal of Mexico.
Prevost first got here to Peru in 1985, becoming a member of the Augustinian mission serving within the prelature in Chulucanas, close to the border with Ecuador, till 1986. He returned in 1988, spending the next decade as head of the Augustinian seminary in Trujillo, the nation’s third most populous metropolis, additionally within the north, the place he taught canon legislation and served as a choose on the regional ecclesiastical court docket.
He returned to the US in 1998 and was elected provincial of the Augustinian province of Chicago. He didn’t return to Peru till 2014 when Pope Francis appointed him as apostolic administrator of the diocese of Chiclayo. The next yr, he was named bishop of the town. By 2023 he was promoted to archbishop, then he was made a cardinal in 2024.
Janinna Sesa, who met Prevost when she labored for the Catholic charity Caritas, stated he was the type of one that would “placed on boots and wade via the mud” to assist these most in want – as he did in 2022, when torrential rains affected Chiclayo and close by villages.
He additionally delivered meals and blankets to distant Andean villages, driving a white pickup truck and sleeping on a skinny mattress on the ground, she informed the Related Press.
Observers say Prevost had a troublesome relationship with the Catholic proper in Peru, significantly Sodalitium, a far-right Peruvian lay Catholic sect, with a robust presence within the area the place he labored. Simply earlier than his demise, Pope Francis dissolved Sodalitium, following a 50-year historical past of sexual, psychological and bodily abuse, and allegations of malfeasance and corruption.
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