Pope tells bishops to accompany their flocks, respond to abuse victims

LIMA (AP):

After his emotional homecoming, Pope Leo XIV got down to work Thursday telling Peru’s Catholic bishops to accompany their flocks as they face poverty and injustices, and respond to victims of clergy sexual abuse with truth, justice and amends.

Leo made it clear he knows the Peruvian church and people well in his opening events in Lima, identifying some of the biggest challenges facing them and calling the influential Catholic hierarchy especially to task to be models of unity and communion.

Peruvians turned out in droves to catch a glimpse of Leo, with crowds outside the church residence where he is staying and an even bigger gathering of 40,000 at the central Plaza Mayor where he had his first events Thursday. Leo thrilled them by looping around the plaza in his popemobile and they responded with their chant: “The pope is Peruvian!”

Leo has been serenaded by a children’s choir belting out a catchy tune composed especially for his trip, accompanied by Andean flutes: “Papa León, hermano del camino, Papa León, sembrador de fraternidad.” (“Pope Leo, brother on the journey, Pope Leo, sower of brotherhood.”)

“It’s a blessing not only for us Chiclayans but for all of Peru,” said Ángel Esquives, a craftsman originally from Leo’s former diocese in Chiclayo who now lives in Lima. He said he left his home at 3 a.m. to go to the historic centre and stand in line to get as close as possible to the pope.

As he showed in the first two legs of his South American trip, Leo was in fine form despite having undergone lung cancer surgery last month. He bounded up a steep flight of stairs Thursday morning without any apparent problems and joked with the bishops that some “doubting Thomases” had predicted he wouldn’t be able to come.

“But God is great and his grace is bigger than all of us and I’m very happy to be here with you,” he said to applause.

A massive welcome home for ‘Padre Robert’

Citing local authorities, the Vatican estimated that some three million people had lined Leo’s motorcade route on Wednesday to welcome “Padre Robert” home. The Chicago-born pope, who also has Peruvian citizenship, responded with an emotional ode to all that Peru had given him.

The former Robert Prevost spent two decades as a missionary priest and bishop in Peru and credits the place with teaching him how to be a shepherd. He in many ways has modelled his vocation as a bishop on the 16th century St Turibius de Mogrovejo, the first archbishop of Lima.