Pope Leo XIV warned Saturday that the heartland of the ancient Inca Empire was "suffering," as the remote, poverty-stricken communities he served as a missionary in Peru shrink dramatically.
The head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics flew by helicopter to the isolated town of Santa Cruz de Succhabamba in the Andes mountains -- an area he visited on horseback when he lived in Peru as priest Robert Francis Prevost.
Despite undergoing cancer surgery just one month ago, the 71-year-old pope was determined to visit the town -- which sits among green peaks at an altitude of over 2,000 metres (6,560 feet) -- during his 12-day tour of South America.
Gathered in front of colorful murals of the pope, thousands of faithful in the streets of Santa Cruz cheered his arrival.
At an open-air Mass, the pontiff spoke with pleasure of returning to the "steep hills, ravines and fertile valleys, in a land with Andean roots, where the Inca Empire flourished and which is the cradle of a profound Christian faith."
But the communities are now under threat, he said, acknowledging the "suffering of those who are forced to leave their homeland in search of a better future" in the great coastal cities, such as Lima and Trujillo.
Over 40 percent of the population in the Cajamarca region, where Santa Cruz de Succhabamba is located, live in poverty -- the highest such figure in the country, according to official data.
The region has lost the most inhabitants to internal migration in Peru, with some 729,000 people who were born there now living elsewhere.
Communities were also grappling with "declining birth rates that are emptying villages," and the unequal distribution of the land's resources, Leo said.
But he praised those who, "with ingenuity and an entrepreneurial spirit, strive to provide people with dignified jobs," from farmers to shopkeepers and small-business owners.
Leo did a tour in a pope-mobile, waving to pilgrims who have travelled across the region to see him, many camping out overnight or walking mountain paths from surrounding villages in the morning.
"We are filled with joy and happiness that he is returning," 42-year-old Idaura Fernandez told AFP.
Irma Villobos, 61, who was born in Santa Cruz but lives in Chiclayo near the coast, said Leo's visit was "very profound, very significant," and she hoped his presence would "transform" the province.
Jorge Villegas, vicar general of the Diocese of Chiclayo and a member of the organizing committee for the pope's trip to Peru, said Leo had originally wanted to add a second stop in an even more remote location.
"He wanted to visit Incahuasi -- a place much higher up than Santa Cruz, where the population still speak Quechua, an Indigenous language of Peru," he told AFP.
Prevost, who has Peruvian citizenship, celebrated Mass in Incahuasi in 2023, reaching the town despite heavy rains and a dangerous river crossing.
But it "proved somewhat complicated" to get him there as pope, Villegas said.
Leo will head instead Sunday to Cuzco, more than 3,400 meters above sea level, and Pucallpa, where he will meet representatives of Indigenous groups.
The pope wraps up his tour of Uruguay, Argentina and Peru on Monday with a visit to a shelter for elderly people.
ae-ide/mlm
