"Welcome Home": Peru awaits Pope Leo's emotional "homecoming"

Peruvians are calling this Pope Leo's homecoming, especially those who knew him personally, like Hector Camacho. He first met him in the 1980s, when the American missionary was still known as Robert Prevost. They became friends, and Hector asked him to be his daughter's godfather. This is my daughter Mildred's baptism with Pope Leo. Here's my wife, Rosanna. Here's me, and here's my daughter, Mildred. The American stood out in a country marked by poverty and armed conflict, but he fit in seamlessly. Father Roberto is a very simple person, really very simple. And the best thing is he adapted to everything here in Chulucanas. He never grumbled, he never complained. Robert Prevost is also remembered for his commitment to helping the poor. After becoming bishop of Chiclayo, a city in northern Peru, he helped the victims of the floods of 2017. And more recently, during the COVID pandemic, he raised enough money in just three months to build a small oxygen plant and provide free assistance to patients. And that time travel... At the time, there were people who couldn't afford to buy a canister of oxygen because back then, one cost more than 2,000, 3,000, even 4,000 soles. This hands-on experience, different from the life he knew in the United States, helped shape the Pope's character and now informs his message, often putting him at odds with the president of his birth country, Donald Trump. In relation to... Compared to the current political situation in the United States, there's this sensitivity to difference, to valuing difference, to valuing every human being as infinitely precious. Magnifica humanitas, that's what it means, humanity is magnificent, that's very different from seeking power at all costs. Pope Leo plans to meet Peruvians from all walks of life during this portion of his trip. He will travel to the Pacific coast, the Andes and the Amazon.