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CHICLAYO, Peru (RNS) — Rosmery Salazar got up at 2 a.m. and was in line by 3 a.m. She wasn’t the only one. Hundreds of people stood waiting for a ride on one of the free buses from Chiclayo out to the Pampas of Pimentel, the sandy plains where Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass Friday morning (Nov. 13). “There seem to be no buses,” she said, looking further down the line. “I think we’ll have to take a taxi after all.”
Pope Leo, then-Bishop Robert Prevost, served as the head of the Chiclayo diocese for eight years, from 2015 – 2023, and many faithful know him personally. Chiclayo has dubbed itself “the city of Pope Leo XIV,” putting up a large sign with gold letters on the main square. “I just want to listen to him speak,” said Salazar.
Despite the early time, roads to Pimentel were jammed with traffic. People had to walk the last couple of kilometers, while vendors sold water bottles and chicken sandwiches. “We’ve come from the Loja province in Ecuador,” said Susana Castellita and Fabian Peña. Peña wore Ecuador’s yellow flag draped around his shoulders. “(We spent) twelve hours on a bus.”
The path the visitors had to take was a tough one. At one point, people needed to slip and slide down a rocky slope, walk through squishy mud and then back up a rocky slope. Gloria Vidangos de Cruz, 91, came in her large wheelchair. To get back up to the dust road, two family members and two strangers carried her chair, one on each side. Leo was Vidangos’ second pope sighting. In the 1980s, she also saw Pope John Paul II in Lima.
As the sun appeared on the horizon — lighting up the streams of pilgrims making their way onto the plain — Walter Curo Santoval was packing up his battered tent. “I slept here with my son,” the 72-year-old said, “so that we’d be one of the first ones to arrive.” His son slept peacefully, Curo Santoval said.
The Pampas of Pimentel had been transformed for the pope’s visit, taking on a festival-like atmosphere. An enormous center stage was decorated with straw and “caballitos de totora,” a traditional reed watercraft still used today by fishermen in Pimentel. Around the plain, large screens on scaffolding had been erected to broadcast the events on stage. Crowd control barriers divided the desert into squares, and many volunteers in bright yellow “friends of Leo” T-shirts tried to guide the people in the right direction.
Ximena Vega Montenegro, 11, sat crosslegged in grey sweatpants behind one of the barriers. Her older brother was still asleep under a fleece blanket beside her. Vega and her family arrived at 10 p.m. Thursday night, and it was her first time camping out. “I hope to give the pope my rosary so that he can bless it and then give it back to me,” she said in Spanish.
Nearby, a young boy woke up on a half-inflated air mattress. He’s only 5 years old, but he too spent the night in the desert. A family of five, dressed in matching Leo T-shirts and Leo hats, are from the nearby city of Eten and go to church every Sunday. It was a tough night out on the plains but “the important thing is that we’re here,” the mother, Milagros Pistil, said in Spanish.
Across the plain, people waited, standing and clapping, sitting on plastic stools or trying to get some more sleep on cardboard boxes. Some sang, some did the wave and some shouted at each other when someone tried to push in front. “This is not a concert!” One man hollered at an elder woman and two teenagers.
Then, a large screen showed Leo’s airplane landing in Chiclayo. A massive cheer erupted from the crowd. “El papa es Chiclayano,” they chanted, “the pope is from Chiclayo.” The choir began singing and many in the crowd joined along. According to Vatican estimates, 1 million people lined Leo’s motorcade route from the airport to the Pampas of Pimentel and some 500,000 attended the hot desert Mass, with temperatures edging near 90 degrees.
After several welcome songs by the choir, Leo, dressed in light gold, greeted the crowd. “Dear brothers and sisters,” he said in Spanish. “What a joy to return to Chiclayo!”
During Mass, which lasted for more than an hour and a half, Leo spoke of “the urgent and inescapable duty of every baptized person: the proclamation of the gospel.” Evangelization, said Leo, “does not mean imposing doctrines or trusting efficient strategies, but bearing witness to that real encounter with Christ.” He recommended prayer at home because “Christian families form the missionary nucleus.” Leo also said evangelization today “must face the changing conditions and dynamics involved in the transmission of faith.”
At every mention of Chiclayo, the crowds cheered.