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Pope Leo XIV spent his first full day in Peru on Nov. 12 meeting with Church leaders and Peruvian citizens, marking an emotional return to the country he called home for years prior to his papacy.

The Holy Father first began serving in Peru in 1985 as Father Robert Prevost. He would remain in the country for years in various roles, eventually being named as the bishop of Chiclayo in 2015.

Leo will spend several days in Peru, concluding his historic South American papal trip there before returning to Rome. He previously visited Uruguay and Argentina as part of the journey.

Here are photos of Pope Leo's activities in Peru:

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LIMA, Peru — Pope Leo XIV drew an exuberant crowd of young people to Peru's national stadium on Thursday and told them that friendship with Christ was the key to discovering their path in life.

"Learning to recognize the Lord's voice is essential," Leo said Nov. 12 at a youth prayer vigil, his third such event during his tour of South America. "… Speak to him about your plans and allow his word to question you. Do not be afraid to ask him what he expects of you. He will call some to the priesthood or the consecrated life, others to marriage and to forming a family. All are called to put their abilities at the service of others."

According to local authorities, some 60,000 people attended the event in the stadium, and another 300,000 followed the proceedings in the surrounding area.

The pope spoke after hearing the testimonies of three young adults who had experienced bullying, depression or the loss of loved ones before finding roles in the Church.

Leo noted the ambiguity of the word "passion," which young people are commonly encouraged to discover and pursue.

"We use it to speak of what we love deeply, what awakens our enthusiasm and moves us to give the best of ourselves. But the word also reminds us of suffering, of experiences that seem to extinguish our desire to keep going," he said.

The pope pointed to Christ's Passion as the model for distinguishing between the distinct but linked senses of the word.

"He did not desire the cross; he desired our salvation. Out of love for us, he accepted it and bore it to the end. Thus, through his self-giving, that instrument of death became the place where his passionate love was revealed, a love capable of conquering death."

Leo acknowledged that the Christian path can be a forbidding one.

"At times, we wonder whether following God's will means giving up our dreams. This fear can give rise to an even more dangerous suspicion: thinking that God is depriving us of something and that, in order to enjoy life fully, we also need to experience sin," the pope said.

"Do not be deceived. How could something that harms us make us happy? God knows our deepest desires, even better than we know them ourselves. He has placed within us the desire to love and to be happy, and he wants to bring that desire to fulfillment," he said.

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"For a priest, being able to hear confessions gives meaning to his ministry. It is restoring peace; it is making God's love present," said Father Rodolfo, a Pallottine priest who heard young people's confessions during the Nov. 10 vigil with Pope Leo XIV at the Monument of the Spaniards in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Speaking with EWTN News Español, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, the priest noted that "the confessor is a mediator; it is Jesus who forgives, it is Jesus who welcomes the sinner, but being able to serve as that mediator fills me with joy and gives meaning to my life."

When asked what he would say to young people who do not go to confession, the priest emphasized that he would remind them that "they would always experience themselves as loved by God. God's gaze is a gaze of love, and the sacrament is a sign of that love and so I would encourage them to come forward."

Regarding his experience with Pope Leo in Argentina, Father Rodolfo shared that he is experiencing "immense joy. In my Sunday homily, I said: 'The pope's arrival, the mere fact of his coming, will not change anything; what will change us is listening to him, because his message comes in the name of God.'"

"These young people," he emphasized, "can hear the pope's message, a pope who is truly focused on Jesus. He is a man of God, but one with his eyes open to reality. I believe he has much to say to young people, as well as to us priests, religious, and adults; he conveys a message rooted in our own reality and places Jesus at the center."

The priest expressed his hope that by the end of the vigil, the young people would "take with them the knowledge that Jesus loves them with an eternal love. He loves us where we're at, not in spite of our limitations, but right along with them. God's love forgives and transforms."

Catalina Albrecht, Marcos Fratantoni, and Belén Lisdero, students at the Universidad Austral in Buenos Aires, contributed to this report.

This story was first published by EWTN News Español, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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LIMA, Peru — Pope Leo XIV called on Peru to support the traditional family, respect cultural diversity, and defend the rights of women — all in fidelity to the social doctrine of the Church.

"At the center of every social, economic, and political organization must be the human person, created in the image and likeness of God, endowed with infinite dignity and called to live in relationship with others. On this basis, the personal, familial, and social good come together as one reality," Leo said on Nov. 12 to an estimated 40,000 people gathered in Lima's main square.

The topic of the event was "the challenges and hopes for the future of the Peruvian people."

Leo's remarks underscored how Catholic social teaching cuts across positions that secular politics typically categorize as right- or left-wing.

The pope said that human dignity requires that every child be conceived through natural means and that recent changes in sex roles require the Church "to assert with even greater conviction that God created the human person male and female."

"It is in this union alone that reciprocity and complementarity are expressed, giving rise to fatherhood and motherhood, filiation and fraternity, and everyone's commitment to a better society," he said.

Leo also mentioned other threats to the family including economic problems, emigration, unfettered use of digital technology, and "addictions, such as gambling and betting, alcoholism and drug addiction, abuse or domestic violence."

Paying tribute to Peru's "cultural, linguistic, historical, and regional plurality," the pope called for sensitivity in speaking about other groups.

"We cannot accept expressions or behaviors that classify, offend, or judge people on the basis of their appearance, origin, or social condition, under the pretext of certain jokes or popular slang," he said.

Leo also said that human dignity "requires that we effectively promote the presence, respect, and participation of women. Their contribution to every sphere of society and the Church is indispensable. It is sad to see that machismo persists, manifested in the absence of fathers from family life, in abuse and violence against women."

"Women living in poverty or belonging to Indigenous and Afro-American communities are liable to suffer a double marginalization. For this reason, it pains us to see that violence against women — who could be our grandmothers, mothers, sisters, or daughters — continues to be a reality that wounds all of humanity," the pope said.

Earlier in the day, Leo met with Peru's Catholic bishops, first at the residence of Lima's archbishop and later in the morning at the city's cathedral, where they were joined by clergy, religious, seminarians, synodal teams, and pastoral councils.

The pope praised the Church in Peru for pursuing synodality, a signature initiative of the late Pope Francis that Leo has pledged to continue, which seeks to involve the whole Church, including the laity, more fully in discernment and mission.

Leo also mentioned the problem of clerical sexual abuse, to which he said bishops should respond "as Jesus would, with truth, justice, forgiveness, making amends, and an ever more resolute commitment to fostering a culture of prevention and proaction for the weakness in light of such crimes."

The pope met privately with six abuse abuse victims in Lima on Thursday, after meeting with five others in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Nov. 9, a gesture that popes have occasionally made on their international travels since Pope Benedict XVI.

Encouraging the bishops to promote communion within the Church and oppose polarization in Peruvian society, the pope coupled values and commitments that are sometimes the subject of division or disparate emphasis among Catholics.

He said the bishops' mission required them "to combine doctrinal fidelity with pastoral closeness; the celebration of the sacraments with a commitment to our neighbor; and the formation of consciences with a concrete witness of charity."

To the congregation in the cathedral, gathered for mid-morning prayer, Leo said that the key Christian mission of peacemaking begins at home.

"Peace always begins 'here and now' and depends on how we behave, how we look at one another, how we respect one another and how we listen to one another. If we wish to spread peace, we must first safeguard and nurture it before God, within ourselves and among those dear to us, and then spread it in our communities and in the various spheres of social and political life," the pope said.

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As Christians continue to suffer persecution and the death toll from ethnoreligious conflicts keeps rising in Nigeria, some Republican lawmakers are urging the Department of State to demand more accountability of the Nigerian government.

"I really question, along with many others, as to whether enough has been done," Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Michigan, said during a Nov. 12 hearing by the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa.

"My question is, has any work been done?" he asked. "Has any real work been done?"

The subcommittee convened to assess the ongoing crisis of terrorism, banditry, kidnappings, and mass casualty attacks rooted in ethnoreligious violence, in which Christians make up a disproportionate share of the victims. Much of the violence is perpetuated by Fulani Ethnic Militias but also includes attacks by Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province.

Two Department of State assistant secretaries — Frank Garcia and Riley Barnes — along with specialists in religious freedom and international relations delivered testimony slightly more than one year after President Donald Trump designated Nigeria as a country of particular concern (CPC) for its toleration of "systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom."

The CPC designation and cooperation between the U.S. and Nigeria has not reduced fatalities from this violence. According to the Nigeria Risk Index, Nigeria saw a slight decrease in security incidents from January through June 2026 when compared with the same period in 2025 but saw an increase in fatalities.

The number of security incidents decreased from 2,242 to 2,199, but the fatalities from those incidents increased by nearly 37%, from 2,242 to 4,435. The average fatality rate per incident rose from 1.45 to 2.02.

CPC designations must be reviewed annually, and the decision is left to the executive branch. Many of the Republican lawmakers expressed concern that the intended goals are far from being completed.

Both Garcia and Barnes argued there has been some progress with the Nigerian government acknowledging the crisis and working with the American government after the designation, but they warned that many problems persist and the Department of State's work is ongoing.

"We are engaging the Nigerian government through direct, results-driven diplomacy," Garcia told the lawmakers.

He pointed to the U.S.-Nigeria Joint Working Group, which was created to address the security issues and efforts to protect Christian communities through increased Nigerian security and law enforcement deployments, more timely responses to impending attacks, and biometric sharing with the government to help catch and prosecute those who perpetuate violence. The U.S. has also worked with the Nigerian government to target terrorist financial networks.

However, Garcia said the "pace" of the progress has been "insufficient," acknowledging that "the violence has not stopped." He called the crisis "an ongoing atrocity."

Barnes said "the levels of violence and atrocities committed against Christians in Nigeria are appalling" and warned that attacks from the Fulani Ethnic Militias are often rooted in religious persecution.

"Nigerians I have spoken to on the ground have underscored the depth and breadth of suffering for many and ample witness testimonies over even the past year have stated plainly that perpetrators use religious language during their attacks, specifically identifying Christians for killing and abduction," he said. "President Trump shined a light on these atrocities and made clear we must work to protect these vulnerable communities."

Barnes also said the administration is pressing the Nigerian government to halt its enforcement of anti-blasphemy laws, which he warned are used to target Christians who speak about Islam.

Ongoing concerns

Republican lawmakers who questioned the assistant secretaries highlighted that significant work must still be done to address the crisis.

Rep. Riley Moore, R-West Virginia, said "there are certainly some positive signs" and cited Nigerian cooperation with the United States to target Fulani militants and detain suspected terrorist leader Mahmoud Adam.

"These steps followed sustained American engagement, and they are welcome," he said. "But steps are not results. The … communities whose suffering prompted the designation are still waiting for protection and justice."

"Success here means a definitive end to the genocidal murder of our brothers and sisters in Christ, and the peaceful return of [internally displaced persons] to their ancestral lands," Moore said. "By that measure, [Nigeria] is falling short."

Huizenga also expressed concern that the Nigerian government is "out of touch with what's really happening," which he called a "tragedy."

"What needs to happen?" he said. "When are they going to take it serious and when are they going to do something about it?"

Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, who chairs the subcommittee, said during the hearing that CPC designation "is the beginning" but "not the end" of what is needed.

Speaking to EWTN News after the hearing, Smith praised the work of the Department of State in Nigeria, saying that without the CPC designation, "it would be far worse" because Nigeria "would have no incentive or pressure to try to mitigate the violence."

"These are people, unfortunately, who are so radicalized that the only good Christian is a dead Christian," he said. "And to me, that's disgusting. All people, Christian, Jewish, Muslim should be allowed to thrive on their faith and believe as they would like freedom of religion."

Smith also said the pace of progress has been "slow" and needs to "accelerate."

"The Christians are disproportionately being slaughtered and abducted," he said. "We want a free and prosperous Nigeria. … The CPC is like a mirror. We're holding it up to you and saying … friends don't let friends commit human rights abuses. We don't want you to enable it or look the other way or deny it."

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Hungary's Catholic bishops are urging the faithful to not rush to judgment after the publication of files showing that some of the country's Catholic leaders collaborated with secret police during the Soviet era.

The country existed as a satellite state of the Soviet Union after World War II and was controlled by communists as the Hungarian People's Republic from 1949 to 1989. As was common with communist states, the government utilized a secret police service to spy on and control citizens there.

Current Prime Minister Péter Magyar officially opened the government's secret police archives on Nov. 4, describing the release as "long overdue." The files contain about 60,000 names of secret police informants.

In a statement after the release of the files, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Hungary acknowledged that the list included names of "individuals affiliated with the Church." Among the names are those of Cardinal László Paskai and Archbishop István Seregély.

The Hungarian bishops urged the faithful to "not … lose sight of the bigger picture." They noted that the Church in communist-controlled Hungary was subject to severe persecution, including the murder of dozens of priests and monks and the imprisonment of around 2,000 more, while "approximately 11,500 monks and nuns were forced onto the street" and overall Church activity was suppressed.

Some of the named leaders in the secret police files "did indeed collaborate with the one-party state and passed on confidential information about members of the community and others to the authorities," the bishops said. "On their behalf, we ask for forgiveness from the victims and their families."

Yet "there were also those who were tortured or blackmailed," the bishops continued. "There were those who wrote meaningless reports. And among the names on the list are also those whom the authorities merely attempted to recruit" and who ultimately refused to participate.

The "principal perpetrators" of the communist regime were not the "recruited individuals" listed in such files but the communist leaders themselves, the bishops said.

"Social reconciliation and the healing of the wounds of the past can only be achieved through the truth. We should not form hasty opinions about anyone's actions until we know every detail of their story," they said.

They urged the faithful to reject "contempt, revenge, or hatred" and opt for "confession, forgiveness, and mercy" instead.

The Hungarian government transitioned to a democratically controlled state in 1989 amid the political turmoil and upheaval sweeping Eastern Europe at the time. The Soviet Union would ultimately dissolve on Dec. 26, 1991.

The Catholic Church played a pivotal role in helping bring about the end of the communist multinational government, in large part from efforts by then-Pope John Paul II.

The British historian Timothy Garton Ash, for instance, wrote that there was a direct link between John Paul II's papacy and the revolutions of 1989 that helped bring about an end to Eastern European Marxist-Leninist governments.

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Father Matías de Martini, chaplain of the Devoto prison in Buenos Aires, Argentina, could not hold back his tears as he thanked Pope Leo XIV for his visit to the penitentiary on Nov. 11 and for his genuine concern for the inmates.

The priest said the pontiff's visit "reminds us once again that God does not consider anyone lost, that he rejoices over the lost sheep, the son who returns home."

Pope fills prisoners with hope

On Nov. 11, Pope Leo XIV brought a message full of hope to the prisoners.

Addressing them, their families, and prison staff, he reflected on the "experience of our limitations" that human beings encounter. "Often," he noted, "we become aware of our limitations through sin and its consequences, whether by making a mistake, suffering from an illness, or experiencing the death of a loved one."

However, he said that, "even amid the evil, pain, and deepest failures you may have experienced or caused, your present circumstances can become an opportunity to begin your lives anew, as you have shared with us in your testimonies."

The pope emphasized that "human beings do not flourish in spite of their limitations, but often through them," and pointed out that "prison is also a witness to profound changes and conversions, to growth, learning, and the acquisition of new skills and knowledge."

For this reason, he assured the prisoners that "with God's grace, it is possible to move beyond total darkness and kindle small lights of hope."

At the conclusion of his address, he turned to the families and encouraged them to look to Jesus, who was himself a prisoner, and to pray that he might "grant them all strength and wisdom, so that this time of solitude and isolation will not be in vain, but will become a time of grace and salvation."

"We are part of the same human family. Let us promote whatever contributes to the good of all. Let us accompany especially our children and young people, educating them in authentic values, caring for them and protecting them, so that they do not fall into the pernicious networks of criminality," the pope said.

De Martini thanked the pontiff, saying that "through your presence we feel the embrace of the Father, an embrace that makes no distinction based on the past, an embrace that reminds us of our dignity, something that nothing and no one can take away."

The priest also recalled that "we are beloved children, and it is this truth — the deepest truth — that makes us completely free."

'Jesus transformed my life'

Cristian, 29, is an inmate who shared his testimony with the Holy Father. The young prisoner recounted the details of a past marked by drug and alcohol use which drove him to commit crimes to sustain his addiction.

"All of that ended up distancing me from my family and the people who love me. I lost my job; I lost everything," he lamented. However, he continued, "Jesus transformed my life during the time I was living on the streets."

The young man recounted with hope how he encountered Jesus after going to the prison chapel.

"There, I felt that I was not alone, that Jesus was with me, calling me to reencounter him. I decided to follow him, convinced that he is the true path. I felt him touch my heart. I allowed myself to be guided, and he removed the blindfold from my eyes. I was able to see reality, and that truth is what makes me free on the inside today. From that moment on, everything began to make sense," he noted.

His time in prison is "transforming my life," said 32-year-old Maximiliano, who also shared his testimony with the Holy Father.

He recalled how drugs and alcohol had distanced him from his family, especially his daughters. He said that while in prison, he found inner freedom through an encounter with Jesus.

Reinaldo, 44, recently completed his prison sentence and was able to reunite with his family and his four children.

He said prison was the setting "where Jesus, Our Lord and friend, offered me a new opportunity, a new life."

Reinaldo described placing his faith in Jesus as "an embrace" that heals the soul. "Today, as each new day begins, I keep in mind what it was like to return to the arms of Jesus — that sincere embrace, that embrace of forgiveness, that embrace of a Father who loves his son; an embrace that instilled in me a new hope and a profound certainty of knowing that I am a beloved son."

This story was first published by EWTN News Español, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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