Pope Leo returns to Chiclayo, Peru, in emotional homecoming Mass

In an emotional homecoming, Pope Leo XIV returned to Chiclayo, the Peruvian diocese he once led, celebrating a Mass Nov. 13 attended by hundreds of thousands of people who were overjoyed to be reunited with their former bishop.

"What a joy it is to return to Chiclayo! It is a blessing for me to be with you once again," Pope Leo said in his homily.

"Thank you for your affection, support and prayers, especially for my health during this time of trial which, with God's help, I am overcoming," he said.

It was a heartfelt and vulnerable disclosure from the pope exactly one month after his lung cancer surgery in which the lower lobe of his right lung was removed a little more than three weeks before the longest international trip of his pontificate.

The pope asked the faithful of his former diocese to continue to pray for him "that Our Lord Jesus Christ may grant me the grace to strengthen always my brothers and sisters in the faith."

"As I look at your faces, a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord arises in my heart for the blessing you have been and continue to be in my life," Pope Leo said.

About 500,000 people from across the country descended upon a desert plain called the Pampas de Pimentel in the region of Lambayeque, near the city of Chiclayo, for the outdoor Mass.

The papal flight touched down at the Chiclayo Air Base just after 9 a.m. following a 1.5 hour flight from Lima, the capital and largest city in Peru, where millions had welcomed the pope to the country that he has called "one of my many homes."

Chiclayo is a coastal city in northern Peru where the future-Pope Leo, then Robert Prevost, served as bishop from 2015 to 2023.

One million people lined the streets of Chiclayo for miles holding balloons and handmade signs as the pope was driven from the airport to the remote location of the Mass. Many people held up religious statues and images from their homes to have them blessed as the pope passed by.

In the vast dusty plain of the Pampas de Pimentel, people screamed and waved flags as the popemobile made its way through the massive crowd.

In his homily, Pope Leo reflected on "the urgent and binding duty of every baptized person to proclaim the Gospel."

"We must place Jesus Christ at the center, both of our proclamation and of our existence," he said.

"For a baptized person, love of neighbor is at the heart of the Christian message."

Bishop Edinson Edgardo Farfán Córdova, the current bishop of Chiclayo, said that Pope Leo's presence holds a "special meaning" for the people of his former diocese.

"Your presence allows us to thank God for all that you sowed among us," the bishop told the pope at the end of Mass.

"Holy Father, thank you for meeting once again with this people who love you and remember you with affection for all the teachings and witness you left us in favor of the poorest and most vulnerable; thank you for teaching us to be instruments of communion and to walk hand in hand with the Social Doctrine of the Church."

The bishop's speech was interrupted by enthusiastic chants from the crowd, "El Papa es Chiclayano!" which means, "The pope is Chiclayan!"

After the Mass, Pope Leo was scheduled to make a private visit to the Chapel of St. Óscar Romero.

In the afternoon, the pope will visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Peace, where he will meet with the priests, religious sisters, seminarians and lay parish leaders that he worked with and knew when he was the bishop of their diocese a little more than three years ago.

Pope Leo will give a speech later at the Catholic university in the diocese, the Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo Catholic University, the last event before he concludes his public events for the day.