Pope Leo XIV celebrated an outdoor Mass on Friday at a desert park in Pimentel, near Chiclayo in northern Peru, before a crowd the Vatican estimates at roughly 1.5 million people. The city is where Leo served as bishop, and the visit forms part of his Latin America tour.
According to DW, the Mass took place at Pampas de Pimentel in temperatures of 31 degrees Celsius. BBC World places the park about 10km (six miles) from Chiclayo. Some crowd members arrived 12 hours early to wait in vigil, and many travelled from across Peru and neighbouring countries, according to BBC World.
Leo served as bishop of the Chiclayo diocese for eight years before being summoned to Rome in 2023, according to DW. BBC World reports that he lived in Peru for long periods between 1985 and 2023 and became a Peruvian citizen in 2015.
Speaking to the crowd, Leo thanked them for their prayers "especially for my health during this time of trial," according to BBC World. He was referring to lung cancer surgery he had undergone weeks earlier.
BBC World also reports that local businesses have boosted sales and that hotels have sharply raised nightly room rates during the visit. Neither the Vatican nor local authorities responded to questions about these effects in the reporting available.
The population of Chiclayo is reported differently. DW gives the city’s population as 700,000. BBC World says 800,000 people normally live in the city and surrounding area, and estimates the visit has roughly doubled that figure. Neither source explains the difference, which may reflect the different geographic scope of each figure.
The 1.5 million crowd estimate comes from the Vatican, and no independent count was reported. Al Jazeera’s coverage was available only as a headline and short excerpt, so the 1.5 million figure is the only detail from that outlet that could be checked.
Leo is due to speak on Friday afternoon at St. Turibius de Mogrovejo Catholic University in Chiclayo, where he once served as chancellor, according to DW. He will remain in Chiclayo until Sunday. The content of that speech had not been reported at the time of publication.
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This article was written with AI assistance from the published reporting listed above. It is part of the World Brief daily news podcast.