Peruvians know him as the priest who went ‘from Chicago to Chiclayo.’ He is now Pope Leo XIV

CHICLAYO Peru AP The people of northern Peru call him el obispo Sometimes he is also Padre Prevost Maybe when the shock wears off they will get used to his new title Pope Leo XIV Waiters taxi drivers teachers and others faithful or otherwise saw the Rev Robert Prevost around their communities for years eating ceviche serenading Christmas songs and partaking in everyday exercises But he also walked through flooded streets to reach the needy and drove to remote villages to hand out blankets Several sat a limited feet away from him while he delivered succinct sermons They can all now say they know the pope He s a very simple man announced Alejandro Bazalar whose feet Leo washed during a Holy Week ceremony in the city of Chiclayo where Leo lived for nine years We Chiclayanos never imagined that God s representative on Earth would live among us Chiclayo with more than people plays a vital role as the main commercial hub of Peru s northern Pacific coast with highways linking it to the Andes mountains and Amazon region The two-story homes near its main square are painted in shades of cream or white and the narrow streets are jammed at midday Low-income neighborhoods rise a sparse miles away Leo and born in the United States arrived in the city in serving as administrator and then bishop until his predecessor Pope Francis summoned him to Rome in After he was introduced to the world as Leo XIV he introduced Chiclayo to the world Greetings to all of you and in particular to my beloved diocese of Chiclayo in Peru where a faithful people have accompanied their bishop shared their faith he stated Thursday in Spanish standing on the balcony of St Peter s Basilica for his first speech as the leader of the Catholic church Ricardo Ulloque on Friday remembered Leo chanting into a microphone I wanna wish you a merry Christmas the verse in Jos Feliciano s bilingual song Feliz Navidad accompanied by a small band during a youth gathering in Waiter Alonso Alarc n recalled the time Leo visited a restaurant and ate ceviche Peru s staple dish of lemon-marinated fish And cab driver Hugo P rez explained he saw the pope several times driving around Chiclayo miles kilometers from the coast The Rev Jorge Mill n a priest who lived with Leo and other brothers in Chiclayo revealed the new pope had a mathematical mindset he was orderly and punctual He washed his own dishes he noted and liked to fix cars searching YouTube for solutions when he was stumped The front pages of Friday s newspapers in Peru presented the newly elected pope In the capital Lima street vendors were already selling T-shirts with photos and memes of Leo including one that read the pope is Peruvian Leo s time in Chiclayo was the third period he lived in Peru Ordained in he was sent to work in a mission in the northern part of the country near the margin with Ecuador between and He returned in and remained in the region until he returned to the U S in The Chicago native became a Peruvian citizen in He would often tell Peruvians that he had come from Chicago to Chiclayo the only difference is a insufficient letters Peruvian President Dina Boluarte on Thursday stated Leo s electoral contest was a historic moment for Peru and the U S He chose to be one of us to live among us and to carry in his heart the faith custom and dreams of this nation she announced in a video message in which she also recalled that Leo chose to become a Peruvian citizen as an expression of his profound love for Peru Once or twice a month Mill n announced Prevost played tennis at the Jockey Club in Chiclayo and when Peru qualified for the World Cup in Russia he cheered on his adopted country s preeminence from a couch with other priests In the city of Chulucanas about kilometers north of Chiclayo Mildred Camacho remembers Leo in a more personal way he is her godfather she mentioned When he left for Rome Camacho noted the two kept in touch and he even sent her a photo showing him working with then-Pope Francis When I saw he was elected she reported I ran to my father shouting Daddy my godfather has become the pope