Pope Leo XIV to visit Peru possibly in November, government announces

Peru's government has announced that Pope Leo XIV, who holds Peruvian nationality, will visit the country before the year concludes. The exact date is still being finalized with the Vatican, but the visit is tentatively set for November.

This trip will be part of a larger South American tour, with Argentina and Uruguay also expected to be on the itinerary. The Pope, who previously worked in Peru for over 20 years as a missionary and bishop in Chiclayo, is expected to spend at least three days in the country. His itinerary includes visits to Chiclayo, Lima, and potentially a third city, possibly in the Amazon region.

The Peruvian government is awaiting a meeting between interim President José Carlos Balcázar and the Pope on June 18 in the Vatican to confirm the visit's dates. Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago, became a Peruvian citizen in 2015. The Peruvian Episcopal Conference had previously stated an 80% certainty of the visit occurring in November or early December.

Peru, a nation with a predominantly Catholic population, has hosted papal visits from John Paul II in 1985 and 1987, and Pope Francis in 2018. The announcement comes as the Pope has recently spoken out about the dangers of artificial intelligence and criticized wars and dehumanization in a new encyclical.