ع
Pope Leo XIV used his November 14 2026 stop in a remote Peruvian mountain town to focus attention on the hardships confronting rural Andean communities where outmigration and economic pressures have taken a heavy toll according to reports from several agencies. The 71-year-old pontiff who underwent lung cancer surgery only a month earlier traveled by military helicopter to Santa Cruz de Succhabamba a settlement of roughly 5 000 perched at an altitude above 2 000 meters where he had ministered regularly as Bishop Robert Prevost. In his homily during the open-air Mass Leo spoke directly of the suffering of those forced to abandon their homeland for better prospects in coastal cities while also citing declining birth rates that are emptying villages and the unequal distribution of the land’s resources.
Cajamarca department which includes the town registers Peru’s highest poverty levels with more than 40 percent of the population affected according to the state statistics office. The region has also recorded the country’s largest internal migration with 729 000 native-born residents now living elsewhere primarily in Lima and Trujillo an AFP assessment found. Leo praised locals who with ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit work to create dignified employment in agriculture shopkeeping and small businesses despite the constraints.
The visit carried deep personal meaning for the Chicago-born pope who spent two decades in Peru acquired citizenship and maintained close ties to the area he would visit several times annually often driving a pickup truck himself along winding roads. Local priest Rev. Kevin Noriega ordained by the future pope in 2018 recalled those journeys and the affection the community retained for him as Father Robert. “There is enormous hope and emotion today” Noriega said. “People are eager to experience this Holy Mass … because after so much time they will be able to see their bishop — Father Robert as they used to call him — now as the Holy Father.”
This stop marked the most personal segment of Leo’s 12-day South American tour that has drawn record crowds totaling around 12 million across Uruguay Argentina and Peru Reuters reported. He thanked the estimated 20 000 attendees many of whom camped overnight or traveled long distances from rural outposts for making the pilgrimage of faith to the site. During the sermon the pontiff encouraged the crowd never to lose heart despite life’s difficulties and noted how faith in the Andes has grown simply and genuinely through daily Gospel values and traditions that unite generations.
Buildings in the town center featured colorful murals depicting the pope from his bishop days while giant screens helped the overflow crowd follow the votive Mass of the Mercy of God celebrated on a field near the parish. Leo described the landscape of steep hills ravines and fertile valleys as a cradle of profound Christian faith rooted in the ancient Inca heartland. The return fulfilled a promise he had made to the community before departing for Rome underscoring his enduring bond with the Peruvian people he once served.
