Leo XIV in Chiclayo: "The world is waiting for us and the mission is only beginning"

"What a joy it is to return to Chiclayo! It is a blessing for me to be with you once again." With these words Leo XIV opened his homily on Friday, 13 November, at the Holy Mass celebrated on the Pampas de Pimentel in Chiclayo, the Peruvian diocese he led as bishop before becoming Pope. Before some 500,000 faithful, the Pontiff called on every baptized person to be a "missionary disciple": evangelizing, he said, "does not mean imposing doctrines or trusting in efficient strategies, but bearing witness to that real encounter with Jesus Christ."

A million along the streets. According to the Holy See Press Office bulletin, the Pope left the Teniente Coronel Pedro Ruiz Gallo – Grupo Aéreo No. 6 Air Base at 9.15 local time (3.15 p.m. in Rome) and travelled by car to the Pampas de Pimentel, where at 10.56 he presided over the Eucharistic celebration. Local authorities confirmed that around one million people lined the streets of Chiclayo and approximately 500,000 faithful attended the Mass. On arrival, Leo XIV toured among the crowd in an open car.

Thanks for prayers for his health. In the opening greeting of his homily, the Pope thanked the faithful "for your affection, the support and your prayers, especially for my health during this time of trial which, with God's help, I am overcoming." He added: "As I look at your faces, a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord arises in my heart for the blessing you have been and continue to be in my life and episcopal ministry." He then asked them to keep praying for him, "that Our Lord Jesus Christ may grant me the grace to strengthen always my brothers and sisters in the faith."

All missionary disciples. The liturgy, Leo XIV explained, points to "the urgent and binding duty of every baptized person to proclaim the Gospel" and reminds us that all Christians, "whether ordained ministers or lay faithful," are missionary disciples. Citing Saint Paul VI's Evangelii Nuntiandi, he recalled that no baptized person can be indifferent to evangelization, "the Church's essential mission." How can Christ be proclaimed today? "Through the witness of an authentically Christian and coherent life," placing "Jesus Christ at the center, both of our proclamation and of our existence."

No proselytism. The Pope stressed witness: "Without this witness, the explicit proclamation of Jesus Christ is not possible." Recalling Pope Francis and Evangelii Gaudium, he said evangelization is based on "the beauty of the saving love of God" and "not on persuasive speeches based on mere human wisdom or on proselytism." It calls for "an attitude of humility and solicitude," with "profound respect for each person's conscience and freedom," and can be helped by recovering the practice of "praying together," especially at home, since Christian families are "the missionary nucleus," "domestic Churches."

Charity and truth. Reflecting on the Second Letter of John, Leo XIV linked the proclamation of the faith to charity and the care of those most in need, with a "practical, committed and respectful love" that shows the bond between the Gospel and "the effort to transform the structures of human coexistence," citing his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas. Yet charity, he added, is inseparable from truth, which "is not a theory" but a person, Jesus Christ: "without truth, love degenerates into mere sentimentality, while truth without love becomes rigid and cold."

New challenges. In some regions of the world, the Pope observed, the transmission of the faith "has been almost entirely abandoned": this demands the courage to face "religious indifference, materialism and selfishness," and harmony between "a heart filled with love for God and neighbor and a mind anchored in the truth of the Gospel." "Mission cannot be improvised," he said, urging the faithful to bring the joy of the Risen Lord into families, workplaces and public life, "resisting the temptation to relegate faith to the private realm."

"The mission is only beginning." He closed with an appeal to Chiclayo and all of Peru: "Dear brothers and sisters, the world is waiting for us and the mission is only beginning." The Pope invited them to share "the living hope that is Jesus Christ" and to let the Gospel "overflow" from their villages, towns and cities, entrusting the journey to Our Lady of Evangelization.

Coming home. Robert Francis Prevost was Bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023 and became a Peruvian citizen in 2015. At the end of the Mass, the Bishop of Chiclayo, Edinson Edgardo Farfán Córdova, addressed words of thanks to the Pope. At 12.29 local time, after the presentation of the gift, Leo XIV transferred by car to the Chapel of Saint Óscar A. Romero.

Sources: Holy See Press Office bulletin B0910, official English text of the homily, Bulletin B0910 (Italian). Original in Spanish.

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