Pope Leo XIV Arrives in Peru to Huge Crowds on Final Leg of South America Tour

Pope Leo XIV arrived in Lima, Peru, on Wednesday at the start of a historic visit, declaring Peru his "homeland" as the Vatican estimated some 3 million people lined his motorcade route. The Chicago-born pope, who acquired Peruvian citizenship in 2015, met privately with Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori at the presidential palace. At the welcome ceremony in the palace courtyard, he sang the Peruvian national anthem with Fujimori and a children's choir. He told officials that Peruvians had formed him as a pastor by sharing their lives, joys and struggles, and said he was also returning to his homeland. Some in the crowds broke through security to chase his car. The stop is the final leg of a three-nation South America tour. NBC News noted the trip comes less than a month after he was treated for lung cancer. By Thursday, the second day of the visit, crowds again filled Lima's streets, and Reuters reported the visit had already broken crowd records.

Left-leaning CBS News and NBC News both frame the arrival as an emotional homecoming. CBS leads with the "homeland" declaration and gives the most detail: the Vatican's 3 million estimate, security breaches, the meeting with Fujimori, the anthem and direct quotes from the pope's speech. NBC's short piece, from correspondent Anne Thompson, calls Peru his second homeland and is the only outlet here to mention his recent lung cancer treatment. Right-leaning Newsmax uses the same framing of a second homeland and the "Padre Robert" welcome, but its headline and excerpt are forward-looking, saying a national party is expected and awaits him. It offers no crowd figures, meeting or speech details in the excerpt. Both sides agree on the homecoming theme and the pastor-formation link. AP's text matches CBS's opening, while Reuters adds the record-crowd angle and his status as the first Peruvian citizen to lead the Church.