Leon XIV. In Peru they talked about the new pope “Saint from the North”

There was great joy in Peru after choosing Cardinal Robert Prevost as the Pope. Commentators emphasize that Leon XIV, born in the USA, also has Peruvian citizenship apart from American. And because of his actions in this country, he was called the “saint from the North”.

Rosa María Vílchez, a 49-year-old from Chiclayo, currently a resident of Lima, met Bishop Robert Prevost a few years ago during a service in the church. “We knew him by name,” he recalls, cited by “Guardian”. – Today I remembered how I saw him, and I really wanted to cry because he moved me. Peace beats from him.

“He puts on shoes and wades through the mud” to help

In Peru, he is known as the “holy missionary” or “saint from the north”. Janinna Sesa met him when she worked for Caritas. Now she told the Associated Press agency that the current pope – then the bishop – was the type of man who “puts in his shoes and wades through the mud” to help the most needy. As in 2022, when heavy rains affected Chiclayo and nearby villages. He supplied food and blankets to distant places in the Andes, riding a white pick-up and sleeping on a thin mattress on the floor. During a pandemic Covid-19 He organized life -saving respirators. “And there is no problem with repairing a broken truck until it starts to work,” the Sesa added. The daily “El Comercio” from Lima publishes photos of Leon XIV from the period of service in Peru. On one of them there is a photo of prevosta lonely traversing streets with a monstrance in his hands during the coronavirus pandemic.

Father Fidel Purisac Vigil, communication director of the Diocese of Chiclayo in the time of Prevosta, told the AP agency that as a bishop he always ate breakfast and prayed with other priests. “No matter how many problems there were, he always kept a good mood and was joyful,” he wrote in an email sent to the agency.

During his first speech from the Vatican balcony, Leon XIV briefly changed his language from Italian to Spanish to turn to the faithful “from my beloved diocese of Chiclayo in Peru”, where he was a bishop for over a decade.

Joy in Peru

As “Guardian” notes, when the news of the election of the pope reached Peru, the social media flooded memes depicting the pope eating traditional Peruvian Ceviche and drinking Inca Kolla, a sparkling drink with a flavor of baloma rubber. Others showed him in a red and white football jersey of Peru, and another humorous picture was presented by papamobile converted into a three-wheeled motorcycle rickshaw, the main means of transport in a significant part of the country.

In Lima, the bells of the cathedral called as a sign of joy. But not only Catholics enjoyed. Cecilia Durand, a 55 -year -old publisher from Lima, emphasizes in an interview with the British journal: – I am not a Catholic, there are many things in the Church that I oppose. But I think it's a good thing for Peru. It's like winning the world championship.

The president praises the choice, although Prevost criticized her

President of Peru, Dina Boluarte, praised the “historical” choice of Leon XIV. She described him as a Peruvian “by choice and beliefs”, which he devoted over 20 years to service to the country. She added that Prevost “chose to be one of us to live among us and bear the faith, culture and dreams of this country in our hearts.”

She added what “Guardian” quotes: “The Pope is a Peruvian, God loves Peru.” In the past, Prevost, however, was critical of the boluare rule. At the beginning of 2023, he expressed his “sadness and pain” due to the death of 49 protesters in anti -government demonstrations that broke out when the President Boluarte took office in December 2022, replacing Pedro Castillo, who was forced to leave for the attempt to suspend the congress. Prevost then stated that the riots reflect the historical neglect of the Peruvian poor, saying: “This conflict does not represent the best in the country.”

The current Pope Leon XIV also turned to former president Alberto Fujimori years ago, who was imprisoned in 2009 for breaking human rights And corruption, to ask each of the victims of his government for forgiveness, which will allow the trial of reconciliation to start.

His proposal appeared only two days after Fujimori received the presidential pardon as part of a political agreement and published a video with an apology that was considered insincere. Prevost intentionally suggested that “it would be more effective to ask for forgiveness for some of the great injustices that were committed and for which he was judged and convicted.”

Difficult relations with the Catholic right

According to “Guardian”, Prevost also had difficult relations with the Catholic right in Peru, especially with Sodalitium, the far -right Peruvian Catholic secular sect, strongly represented in the region in which he worked. Just before death Pope Francis He solved Sodalitium after a 50-year history of sexual, mental and physical abuse, as well as allegations of abuse and corruption.

In 2023, Pope Francis called on Cardinal Prevost to Rome to take the position of the prefect of the dicasteries of bishops and the chairman of the Papal Latin American Commission. It was the end of his stay in Peru, but this was not the end of his relationship with the country, which, as he clearly pointed out in his first message as the Pope, is close to his heart.