- More than 40 % of Cajamarca’s population lives in poverty, the highest rate nationwide.
- Declining birth rates and unequal resource distribution are causing villages to empty, according to the pope.
Santa Cruz de Succhabamba, Peru — Pope Francis warned on Saturday that the historic heartland of the Inca Empire is suffering, as remote, poverty‑stricken communities that he once served as a missionary are rapidly depopulating.
The leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics arrived by helicopter in the isolated town of Santa Cruz de Succhabamba in the Andes, a location he previously accessed on horseback during his time as Robert Francis Prevost in Peru.
Even though he underwent cancer surgery only a month earlier, the 71‑year‑old pontiff was determined to travel to the town, which sits among green peaks at more than 2,000 m (6,560 ft) altitude, as part of his 12‑day South American tour.
Thousands of faithful gathered before colorful murals of the pope in the streets of Santa Cruz, cheering his arrival.
During an open‑air Mass, the pontiff expressed pleasure at returning to the steep hills, ravines, and fertile valleys of this Andean region — land where the Inca Empire once flourished and where a deep Christian faith has endured.
He warned, however, that these communities are now under threat, acknowledging the suffering of those compelled to leave their homelands in search of better lives in major coastal cities such as Lima and Trujillo.
More than 40 % of the population in the Cajamarca region, where Santa Cruz de Succhabamba is situated, lives in poverty — the highest rate recorded nationally, according to official data.
The region has experienced the greatest internal migration in Peru, with roughly 729,000 people born there now residing elsewhere.
Leo noted that villages are emptying due to declining birth rates and uneven distribution of land resources.
He praised those who, with ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit, work to create dignified jobs for farmers, shopkeepers, and small‑business owners.
Leo rode in a popemobile, waving to pilgrims who have traveled across the region to see him, many of whom camp overnight or walk mountain paths from nearby villages each morning.
“We are filled with joy and happiness that he is returning,” said 42‑year‑old Idaura Fernandez to AFP.
Irma Villalobos, 61, who was born in Santa Cruz but now lives in Chiclayo on the coast, described the visit as “very profound and significant” and hoped his presence would “transform” the province.
Jorge Villegas, a member of the pope’s trip organizing committee, said Leo had originally wanted to add a second stop in an even more remote location.
“He wanted to visit Incahuasi — a higher‑elevation community than Santa Cruz where residents still speak Quechua, Peru’s Indigenous language,” Villegas told AFP.
Prevost, a Peruvian citizen, celebrated Mass in Incahuasi in 2023, reaching the town despite heavy rains and a dangerous river crossing.
Villegas said that traveling there as pope proved “somewhat complicated.”
Earlier Saturday, the US‑born pope returned to his former cathedral in Chiclayo, where he served as bishop from 2015 to 2023, and where many locals recalled him fondly.
In Zana, about 45 km southeast, Leo was welcomed by a group of small children who ran to hug him before he visited a shrine dedicated to Toribio de Mogrovejo, one of Latin America’s most important Catholic saints.
The pope paid tribute to “the memory of generations of Africans who were torn from their homes and subjected to slavery” in Zana — a once‑wealthy colonial town famed for its sugar plantations and large Afro‑Peruvian community.
He also spoke of the many families that suffer from crime, extortion, and insecurity, expressing pain at the thought of those living in fear and those who endure discrimination.
Pilgrim Melissa Flores Uceda, 38, said the pope’s message resonates because “discrimination continues today.”
Jesus Juarez Gutierrez, an 11‑year‑old altar boy dressed in papal robes, said he wanted nothing more than the pope’s blessing.
On Sunday, he will travel to Cusco, situated more than 3,400 m above sea level, then proceed to the Amazon rainforest, and conclude his tour of Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru on Monday.