The ceremony to honor Pope Leo XIV in the Peruvian city where he served as bishop for roughly eight years began on Saturday night with a procession of altar boys and priests. It ended long past dark with dancers in devil costumes swirling on the steps of his former church.
In between, there was a Mass, communion, many hymns, a student band, a chorus, fireworks, a musical performance by one of the priests — cheered like a rock star in a white robe — and chant after chant about the “papa Chiclayano,” the pope from Chiclayo.
Chiclayo, in northern Peru, is the country’s fifth-largest city and was the pope’s home from 2014 to 2023. Here he is known for traveling the region’s mountains and coast for long hours by car, and occasionally on horseback, and for his forceful sermons in fluent Spanish.
To celebrate him, hundreds of people filled the lush plaza in front of the city’s towering, yellowing cathedral. There were nuns in white habits and church groups in matching vests. Flanking the cathedral doors were two giant banners with pictures of a smiling Pope Leo.
The swirling dancers — performing the “dance of the little devils of Túcume,” a nearby region — were the capstone event. Fireworks shot out of a headdress worn by the principal devil, who fought an angel. Several who were present called the dance a representation of the battle between good and evil.
In the religious segment of the event, tambourines rattled as the new bishop of Chiclayo, Edinson Farfán, took to the microphone.
He recalled the pope as “a shepherd who smelled of the sheep” — a phrase used repeatedly in Chiclayo in recent days to refer to Pope Leo as a man who was close to his congregation.
“Leo XIV has taught us to live the Gospel through closeness to the poor, to the most vulnerable, to those who suffer, the migrants, the refugees,” said Bishop Farfán. “He is a man deeply sensitive to social justice.”
Chiclayo has rarely, if ever, had such a celebrity connection, and in recent days it has glittered with excitement. New street signs have gone up: “Welcome to Chiclayo, the city of Pope Leo XIV.” Restaurants are offering Pope specials. (“Happy Mother’s Day!” read the board outside the Trebol, a restaurant next to the cathedral. “Today: Chiclayan goat, the favorite of Pope Leo XIV. WELCOME!!!”)
And by the weekend, the regional tourism board had organized a pope tour for the news media, featuring places that figured prominently in the former bishop’s time in Chiclayo.
Chiclayo was religious before the pope arrived in 2014, and it still is. There are eight separate masses in the main cathedral on Sundays, and hundreds of people attend each one, said Father Jorge Millán, a priest in Chiclayo who is close to the pope. What the pope did was encourage people to take their faith beyond the church and participate in social work, he said.
During the ceremony on Saturday, Bishop Farfán said that the pope, as bishop, had “accompanied the Holy Father Leo XIV on his pilgrimage so that he may now accompany and guide the universal church. From Chiclayo, from Latin America — the continent of hope — to the rest of the world!”
The crowd burst into a cheer: “Papa! Amigo! Chiclayo está contigo!” (“Pope! Friend! Chiclayo stands with you!”)
Julie Turkewitz is the Andes Bureau Chief for The Times, based in Bogotá, Colombia, covering Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru.
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