Pope Leo Concludes Argentina Tour with Mass, Heads to Peru Homecoming

In Luján, Argentina, Pope Leo is concluding his visit on Wednesday with a final ceremony that is expected to attract millions of attendees, before resuming his 12‑day South America tour that includes an emotional homecoming in Peru as the first Peruvian citizen to lead the Catholic Church.

Over the next three days, Leo will celebrate an outdoor Mass at the Our Lady of Luján shrine, Argentina’s most revered Marian site, drawing massive crowds of pilgrims who have assembled for days to witness the ceremony.

The shrine, located about an hour west of Buenos Aires, is flanked by a line of crowds that stretched for miles, with some attendees traveling up to 10 km (6 mi) on foot. Numerous streets, including a major highway, were closed in a security measure for the event.

On Wednesday, the Pope also visited one of Argentina’s largest prisons, where he embraced several inmates and urged staff to treat detainees with humanity. The visit underscores the Church’s ongoing criticism of President Javier Milei’s cuts to social programs during the three‑day Argentine tour.

As a citizen of both the United States and Peru, the Pope is beginning a personal segment of his overseas journey—the most intensive since his recent papacy—thereby returning to the country where he spent two decades as a missionary before becoming Pope last year.

The forthcoming Peru leg is expected to feature intimate moments as the Pope meets with old friends and spends three days in Chiclayo, his former episcopal seat from 2015 to 2023. This visit will also gauge the extent to which he is willing to intervene directly in his adopted nation’s political affairs.

The crowds in Argentina have been overwhelming; on both Monday and Tuesday the Pope attracted at least one million spectators, with the Saturday Mass in Buenos Aires setting a record for his 18‑month papacy, drawing 2.5 million attendees.

He is scheduled to land at Callao Air Base at 5:30 p.m. (2230 GMT). Following a brief welcome, he will proceed to the presidential palace for a closely observed address to President Keiko Fujimori, who was elected this year in a tightly contested election marred by fraud allegations and vote‑counting delays.

Fujimori, the daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori—who served from 1990 to 2000 and passed away in 2024—wins a narrow victory, reigniting the legacy of Peru’s most influential and polarizing political family.

In 2017, as Bishop Robert Prevost, Leo condemned former President Fujimori’s pardon, urging that the incumbent seek personal reconciliation with victims of human‑rights abuses to foster genuine peace.

Fujimori has relied heavily on her father’s political legacy throughout her campaign.

“This is more than a pastoral visit to his flock; it is a homecoming,” said Jose Luis Guadalupe Pérez, an academic at Peru’s Pacific University. Given his deep familiarity with the country, Leo is likely to stir up political tensions.

Peru has greeted the homecoming with enthusiasm: a 14‑meter (46‑foot) monument of the Pope unfurled over a seaside park in Callao, local merchants in Lima promote pope‑themed apparel and souvenirs, and inmates at the nation’s largest women’s prison have crafted velvet dolls bearing his image.

The Peru leg closes the first South American tour of Pope Leo, during which he has called for political dialogue and greater regional unity.

Analyst of the Atlantic Council, Martin Cassinelli, notes that the Pope’s Peruvian background affords an unusual perspective on that nation’s political history.

“No other nation gives the Pope the same sensitivity toward its internal politics as Peru,” Cassinelli observed. “Any conflict with the present Fujimori administration would be a manifestation of historical tensions.”

Relations between the late Fujimori administration and various Catholic Church sectors have often been contentious, especially regarding human rights during the anti‑Shining Path campaigns. Church leaders also condemned the 1995 amnesty for security‑force personnel implicated in human‑rights violations.

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