In a high Andean town of about six thousand souls, a pope who once lived among them returned to speak of what is slowly draining such places of their people. Pope Leo XIV, formerly bishop of nearby Chiclayo, stood before a crowd estimated at twenty thousand and named the sorrow of those who leave in search of a better life, and the quiet emptying of villages as birth rates fall. The words carry weight in a region where more than forty percent of people live in poverty and hundreds of thousands born there have already moved away. It is an old human story, the pull between home and hope, now spo
Pope Leo Returns to Former Peruvian Diocese, Speaking of Migration and Community Suffering
Cajamarca has the highest poverty rate in Peru, above 40%, and has lost 729,000 people born there to internal migration.
Villages emptied by migration, and a bishop who came home
Mark
Why does a Mass in a town of 6,000 matter beyond the crowd size?
Mimi
Because he chose to speak there about the people leaving. Cajamarca has the highest poverty rate in Peru, over 40%, and 729,000 people born there now live elsewhere in the country.
Mark
And he knows the place personally.
Mimi
Yes. He was bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023 and visited Santa Cruz several times a year. Locals called him 'Father Robert.'
Luke
Let me separate a few things. The 20,000 figure comes from the Vatican, so it's one source's count, not an independent estimate.
Mark
Fair. What about the migration claims?
Luke
The poverty and migration numbers are attributed to official data, which is solid. But the pope's remarks about declining birth rates emptying villages are his own framing. The report doesn't give figures for Santa Cruz itself.
Mimi
Still, the priest Kevin Noriega's reaction shows what it meant locally. He talked of enormous hope and emotion.
Luke
Which is one person's account, told to Reuters. It's telling, but it isn't a measure of how the whole town felt.
Mark
Anything still unknown?
Luke
The report doesn't say whether he announced any concrete help for the region. What comes next is the Cusco and Amazon legs, ending Monday.
The Pulse
- A helicopter descends into a remote Andean town, and singing crowds surge forward to greet the pope who once served them as their bishop.
- In his sermon, the pope names the suffering of migration and the falling birth rates that are emptying villages, pressing a wound that has no quick cure.
- Official figures sharpen the stakes: over 40 percent of Cajamarca lives in poverty, and 729,000 of its people now live elsewhere in Peru.
- The pope urges the faithful never to lose heart, and the 12-day journey moves on to Cusco and the Amazon before its return to Rome on Monday.
In a high Andean town of about six thousand souls, a pope who once lived among them returned to speak of what is slowly draining such places of their people. Pope Leo XIV, formerly bishop of nearby Chiclayo, stood before a crowd estimated at twenty thousand and named the sorrow of those who leave in search of a better life, and the quiet emptying of villages as birth rates fall. The words carry weight in a region where more than forty percent of people live in poverty and hundreds of thousands born there have already moved away. It is an old human story, the pull between home and hope, now spoken from a place that remembers him as Father Robert.
A helicopter carrying Pope Leo XIV set down in Santa Cruz de Succhabamba on Saturday, and the people of this remote Andean town met him with song and cheering. Around six thousand people live here, and the Vatican counts about twenty thousand who came to see him. For many, this was a homecoming. The town lies in the Diocese of Chiclayo, where Leo served as bishop from 2015 to 2023, visiting its rural faithful several times a year.
Speaking at a local parish, he said his joy at returning felt like a very large dream granted to a humble servant. At an outdoor Mass, however, his words turned toward hardship. He spoke of people forced to leave their homeland, of communities under threat, of declining birth rates emptying villages, and of unequal access to the land's resources. He thanked those who had travelled to reach him and asked them not to lose heart.
The region's numbers give those words their weight. Cajamarca has the highest poverty rate in Peru, above forty percent, and has lost more people to internal migration than any other region, 729,000 of them now living elsewhere in the country.
Local priest Kevin Noriega called the visit a moment of enormous hope and emotion. The people were eager to see their former bishop, whom they knew as Father Robert, now as the Holy Father. The pope, born in the United States, lived in Peru for long stretches and became a Peruvian citizen in 2015. The trip continues to Cusco and the Amazon, ending in Rome on Monday.
A helicopter carrying Pope Leo XIV came down in Santa Cruz de Succhabamba on Saturday, and the people waiting greeted him with singing and cheering. The town sits in a remote stretch of the Andes in northern Peru. About 6,000 people live there. According to the Vatican, the crowd that came for the pope numbered about 20,000.
This was a return, not a first visit. Santa Cruz belongs to the Diocese of Chiclayo, where Leo served as bishop from 2015 to 2023. In those years he came to the town several times a year to minister to its rural population. After landing, he toured the area in a popemobile, waving to people who had travelled from across the region to see him.
At a local parish on Saturday, he said he felt joy at being back in the small town. "It is like a very big dream that the Lord has allowed this servant to come here," he said.
At an outdoor Mass, his sermon turned to what is happening to places like this one. He spoke of the suffering of people forced to leave their homeland in search of a better future, and said that departure had left communities under threat. He named "declining birth rates that are emptying villages" and pointed to the unequal distribution of the land's resources. He also thanked those who had made the journey to reach him, and urged them never to lose heart despite the difficulties of life.
Official data gives those words a measurable setting. Santa Cruz lies in the Cajamarca region, where more than 40% of the population lives in poverty, the highest share in Peru. Cajamarca has also lost more people to internal migration than any other region: 729,000 people born there now live elsewhere in the country.
For many in the crowd, the occasion was personal. Rev. Kevin Noriega, ordained in 2018 by the then-bishop, told Reuters the visit had brought "enormous hope and emotion" to Santa Cruz. He said people were eager to attend the Mass because, after so much time, they would see their bishop, whom they had called "Father Robert," now as the Holy Father.
The ties run deep. Born in the United States, Leo lived in Peru for long periods between 1985 and 2023 and became a Peruvian citizen in 2015. Elected in May 2025, he is now making his first tour of Latin America as head of the Catholic church. The 12-day trip has already included Argentina and Uruguay, and Peru is its longest stop.
The pope is due to leave Chiclayo on Sunday for Cusco, then continue to a Peruvian section of the Amazon rainforest. The tour ends on Monday, when he returns to Rome.
Notable Quotes
It is like a very big dream that the Lord has allowed this servant to come here.— Pope Leo XIV, at a local parish in Santa Cruz
The visit has brought enormous hope and emotion to Santa Cruz.— Rev. Kevin Noriega, to Reuters
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