Pope Leo XIV is due to arrive in Lima on Wednesday, 11 November, for the longest and most personal leg of his first visit to Latin America since his election in May 2025. The pope is scheduled to land in the Peruvian capital in the late afternoon and meet President Keiko Fujimori at the Government Palace, before addressing authorities, civil society and the diplomatic corps at the Gran Teatro Nacional.

The Peru leg runs until 16 November and takes in Lima, Chiclayo, Cusco and Pucallpa. It follows shorter visits to Uruguay and Argentina on the same journey, which began on 6 November. For Leo, the return to Peru is a homecoming: the United States-born pope spent more than two decades there as an Augustinian missionary priest and bishop, led the Diocese of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023, and became a Peruvian citizen in 2015.

A homecoming in Peru

Peru is where the pope is best known outside Rome. He first arrived as a missionary in 1985, and his name was greeted with cheers in Chiclayo when he appeared on the balcony of St Peter's Basilica after his election. His programme in Peru includes meetings with bishops, clergy and young people in Lima, a return to Chiclayo, and visits to Cusco in the Andes and Pucallpa in the Amazon.

The meeting with President Fujimori will be closely watched. She is the daughter of Alberto Fujimori, who ruled Peru from 1990 to 2000, and took office as president in July. As bishop of Chiclayo in 2017, Leo criticised the former president on live television, saying his apologies were not enough to absolve him of crimes against humanity. The speech the pope gives beside Fujimori's daughter is therefore highly anticipated.

A demanding programme after surgery

The journey is taking place only weeks after the pope underwent surgery on 13 October, when part of his right lung was removed after a growth was found to be cancerous. His doctors confirmed on 26 October that he was medically cleared to travel, and the itinerary went ahead unchanged. The demanding programme includes 12 flights, 40 speeches and nine large public Masses across the three countries.

The visit is also a test of the pope's stamina at 71, after an operation that raised questions about whether the trip could proceed at all. In Lima, prayer chains formed when news of his illness broke, with the faithful praying for his recovery and for him to complete the journey. The final Mass of the Peru leg is planned for Las Palmas Air Base in Lima on 16 November, before he returns to Rome on 17 November.

Further details of the visit are reported by Le Monde and the National Catholic Reporter.