Pope Leo XIV back in Chiclayo!
Chiclayo
Chiclayo, Peru, Nov 13 (EFE).-
“What a joy to be back in Chiclayo! It is a blessing to be with you again,” said Pope Leo XIV as he began Friday’s Mass before 500,000 people, marking his return to the city where he served as bishop for nearly nine years.
“Seeing your faces spontaneously inspires a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord for the blessings that you have been and continue to be for my life and episcopal ministry,” the pope added.
He also thanked the people of Chiclayo for their “affection, support, and prayers.”
In his homily, Leo XIV spoke about what 21st-century missionaries should be like and emphasized the need for “a witness of an authentically Christian and consistent life.”
“The joyful and life-giving transmission of the message of salvation requires, on our part, an attitude of humility and concern, as well as a deep respect for the conscience and freedom of every person,” he said on the esplanade.
The pontiff invited Christian families in particular to continue evangelizing because “they constitute the missionary nucleus; as ‘small domestic churches,’ they lead their members to actively participate in the life of local communities, the greater community of the universal Church, and society as a whole.”
He lamented that the transmission of the faith “in some regions of the world has been almost completely interrupted” and that this situation requires the Church “to take on new challenges, such as religious indifference, materialism, or selfishness, which dictate our daily decisions.”
The pope urged Catholics to go out into the world “to share with others the joy that comes from encountering the Risen Lord and to make that joy present within our families; in our workplaces, through the faithful performance of our professional duties; and in the public sphere, resisting the temptation to relegate faith to the private sphere.”
“Dear brothers and sisters: the world awaits us, and the mission is just beginning,” the pope said in closing.
León XIV, who became a Peruvian citizen in 2015, met on Friday with the bishops, priests, religious, seminarians, and members of synodal teams and pastoral councils in Chiclayo.
The pontiff will also visit the San Óscar Arnulfo Romero Church, located in one of Chiclayo’s poorest neighborhoods, for whose construction he interceded by securing funds from American benefactors, and will visit the Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo Catholic University, where he will meet with the city’s university community. EFEccg/mcd
