Wire reporting: (AP, via Local 10)

Pope Leo XIV opened a six-day visit to Peru on Wednesday, telling officials in Lima that he was returning to a country he also called his homeland after more than two decades there as a missionary priest and bishop^2,3,6.

The Vatican estimated that about 3 million people lined his motorcade in the capital, Al Jazeera, Euronews and DW reported; Al Jazeera said a Vatican statement described that figure as a record crowd for his papacy after large gatherings earlier in the week in Argentina^2,3,6.

Leo, 71, was born in Chicago, holds U.S. and Peruvian citizenship, and is the first pope from either country^2,6. He served in Peru for two decades and was bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023^2,3.

At Lima's Gran Teatro Nacional he said he was returning to his homeland, according to Al Jazeera². Euronews reported he also said years in Peru sharing people's lives had helped shape him as a pastor³.

He sang Peru's national anthem with President Keiko Fujimori at the presidential palace^3,6. In remarks involving Fujimori, he said past events "deserve to be treated with justice and sensitivity," Al Jazeera reported².

Fujimori is the daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori, who died in 2024; Euronews and DW noted that his 1990s government is still associated with violence, human-rights abuses and the war against Shining Path guerrillas^3,6. DW said Fujimori called reconciliation after decades of insurgent violence, state abuses and political division an "unfinished task"⁶.

The Peru stop is the last of a three-nation Latin American tour after Uruguay and Argentina^2,3,6. Leo is due to spend three days in Chiclayo². DW said the itinerary includes a visit at about 3,700 meters (12,140 feet), described as a health concern after part of a lung was removed in mid-October because of a malignant tumor, with a planned return to the Vatican on Nov. 17⁶.

DW, citing Pew figures carried by AP, said Catholics make up about 67 percent of Peru's population, down from 76 percent⁶. Several U.S. and European outlets in the same cycle were still covering the Argentina leg, including a Buenos Aires Mass and a Córdoba homily, rather than the Lima arrival^7,8,9,16.