(OSV News) -- Peruvians reacted with a mix of joy and anticipation after Church leaders said there is an "80% chance" Pope Leo XIV will visit Peru later this year, likely between November and early December.
The news came after the Peruvian bishops’ ad limina visit to Rome, where the pope told them, "Peru holds a special place in my heart," and he expressed a strong desire to return.
Bishop Carlos Enrique García Camader of Lurín and president of the Peruvian bishops' conference, told the press Feb. 4 there is an "80% chance" that the pontiff will make a Latin American homecoming in late fall.
Bishop García traveled to the Vatican along with the other bishops of Peru for the January ad limina visit.
Before addressing the bishops during the formal audience meeting, Pope Leo felt at home when he visited the Peruvian prelates during a "fraternal lunch" Jan. 29 -- fraternal, as he was a longtime member of the country's bishops' conference, or CEP.
An "ad limina apostolorum" -- Latin for "to the threshold of the apostles," is a mandatory, periodic visit made by Catholic diocesan bishops to Rome to pray at the tombs of Sts. Peter and Paul and to report on the state of their dioceses to the pope. The visits usually occur every five years.
According to Bishop García, Pope Leo expressed, "How I wish I were already in Peru, because I love Peru," and told the Peruvian bishops "clearly that (his visit) will very likely take place in the month of November, at the latest in the first week of December," the president of Peruvian bishops said during a press conference.
According to Agencia Andina, Peru's official news agency, Bishop García said the pope would stay in Peru for five or six days.
He added that it is still too early to know which Peruvian cities the pontiff will visit, but Chiclayo -- a diocese led by then-Bishop Robert Francis Prevost between 2014 and 2023 -- "is always in his heart."
In March, an organizing commission will likely be formed by the CEP to plan Leo's visit, Bishop García said.
Spanish-born Bishop Miguel Ángel Cadenas Cardo, apostolic vicar of Iquitos, confirmed to OSV News that the pope told the Peruvian bishops he intends to visit the country.
The pope "told us that he was thinking of going to Peru, specifically in the month of November, but that he was not certain, given that his schedule is very complicated," Bishop Cadenas said.
Pope Leo's reunion with the Peruvian episcopate was described as an encounter among old friends.
"The meeting with the Peruvian bishops was very moving and beautiful. He knows every one of us," Bishop Cadenas said.
During the encounter, Pope Leo spoke with the bishops about the challenges Peru faces, especially organized crime and political corruption, asking the bishops to
"remind my beloved children of Peru that the Pope carries them in his heart and remembers them with affection, especially in his prayers."
Bishop Cadenas took part in two meetings with the pope on Jan. 30. In the morning, the pontiff received the heads of Peru's 46 ecclesiastical jurisdictions. In the afternoon, he met with the Amazonian bishops.
"We invited him to visit the Amazon if he travels to Peru. It would be a privilege," Bishop Cadenas said.
Many Catholics have been eagerly awaiting news of the pope's visit since the possibility was announced. In Chiclayo, "the announcement is being experienced with special excitement, in the hope that the pontiff will include in his visit this northern city, which showed him so much affection during his pastoral ministry," Father Fidel Purisaca Vigil, head of diocesan communications, told Andina agency.
He mentioned that while awaiting official confirmation of Leo XIV's visit, the Diocese of Chiclayo is already preparing spiritually for what will be a historic event, and calls for unity and joint work among civil, military and political authorities, as well as the entire society, believers and nonbelievers alike.
Successive political crises and corruption scandals have shaken Peru in recent years. Since 2016, the Andean country has had seven different presidents. The current leader, President José Jerí, previously headed Congress and took office in October 2025 after former President Dina Boluarte was removed by lawmakers for "permanent moral incapacity." The current president could join the list of ousted leaders over secret meetings with Chinese businessmen, The New York Times reported in January.
"Boluarte had only 3% of support before being removed from the presidency," theologian Veronique Lecaros, head of the theology program at the Pontifical Catholic University, told OSV News.
In that context, the Catholic Church remains a trusted institution in the eyes of most Peruvians, Lecaros argued. A survey released in 2025 showed that 68% of the population viewed the election of Prevost -- who holds both U.S. and Peruvian citizenship -- positively. The same poll found that 70% of Peruvians would like Leo to visit the country.
Lecaros emphasized that Leo chose November for a possible visit because 2026 is an election year in Peru, and he does not want to be associated with party politics.
"He recently refused to receive Lima's mayor, Rafael López Aliaga, in Rome for the same reason," she said. López Aliaga is a potential presidential candidate who was reportedly seeking a photo with the pope to use during the campaign.
The election is scheduled for April, and the new president will take office in July. In Lecaros' view, the pontiff will probably wait for the new president to govern for a few months before visiting Peru.
"He doesn't want to have any role in Peruvian politics. He wasn't born here and doesn't have a personal history of involvement in Peruvian politics," Lecaros said. Pope Francis, she noted, had a different relationship with Argentina's political sphere. Leo is more cautious in that regard.
According to Bishop García, the pontiff may have planned to visit Peru this year "also because the 300th anniversary of the canonization of St. Turibius is being marked, perhaps." St. Turibius of Mogrovejo, the second archbishop of Lima in the 16th century, was a major organizer of the local Church.
"What matters is that he wants to come to Peru because he feels a sense of gratitude toward the country," Bishop García added.
