Pope Leo XIV presided on Saturday morning over the rite of coronation of the Immaculate Virgin at the Catedral de Santa María in Chiclayo, in northern Peru. The ceremony, set for 8 a.m. with entry limited to accredited guests, opened the fourth day of his apostolic journey to the country of which he is a naturalised citizen.
In his own words, the crown is "the homage of gratitude and filial love that the Pope pays to her". The faithful had gathered outside the church since before dawn, with police and military personnel securing the area.
The setting is not incidental: before he was elected pope, Robert Prevost was bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023 — eight years leading the diocese whose seat is that cathedral. The Immaculate Virgin is the patron of that jurisdiction.
From the cathedral to the highlands, by helicopter
The official programme, released by the Holy See and reproduced by the state gazette El Peruano, moves out of the city. At 9:10 a.m. the Pope left aboard a Fuerza Aérea del Perú (Peruvian Air Force) helicopter from the Base Aérea Teniente Coronel Pedro Ruiz Gallo, arriving about 40 minutes later in Santa Cruz de Succhabamba.
An open-air Mass is scheduled there for 11 a.m., on an esplanade 2,035 metres above sea level, with rural communities, pilgrims and highland residents. The province of Santa Cruz belongs administratively to Cajamarca but ecclesiastically to the Diocese of Chiclayo — the rural territory Prevost travelled as bishop.
The return flight to Lambayeque is set for 1:15 p.m., with arrival at the air base at 2 p.m.
Zaña and the end of the Jubilee Year
At 5:30 p.m. the Pope leads a prayer gathering at the Santuario de Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo, in Zaña, closing the Jubilee Year marking 300 years since the canonisation of the saint, a 16th-century archbishop of Lima.
The liturgy — a prayer service rather than a second Mass — will bring together cardinals, bishops and parish delegations from Cañaris, Incahuasi, Oyotún and Zaña, as well as migrants and representatives of Afro-Peruvian pastoral work. More than 50 Peruvian Paso horses and the Golpe a tierra dance are planned. In the evening, Leo XIV returns to the episcopal residence in Chiclayo.
How the day was organised
Road transfers are made in closed motorcades behind security cordons, and the open popemobile is not in use on this leg. Chiclayo closed streets through the morning in the block bounded by Bolognesi, Luis Gonzales, Pedro Ruiz and Sáenz Peña avenues.
Entry to the cathedral, to the Santa Cruz esplanade and to the Zaña shrine requires a national identity document (DNI). The Policía Nacional (Peru's national police) asked attendees to go straight to authorised sites and avoid gathering on the highways.
The rest of the trip
Leo XIV's visit to Peru runs from 11 to 16 November and takes in Lima and Callao, Chiclayo — with Pimentel — Cusco and Pucallpa. The Pope leaves for Rome on 16 November at 1:45 p.m. from the Base Aeronaval del Callao. The Peruvian state declared the trip to be of national interest through Resolución Suprema No. 132-2026-RE.
With information from El Peruano, Infobae and EWTN Noticias.
