SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Pope Leo is in Peru, the country he spent two decades of his life in and where he holds dual citizenship.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
POPE LEO XIV: (Speaking Spanish).
(CHEERING)
DETROW: The reception to Leo's visit in Peru has been deeply emotional. On this trip to South America, Leo has also delved into the political in a region where the Catholic Church is losing ground and politics has shifted sharply to the right. NPR's Carrie Kahn has been covering Leo's 12-day trip, which also included visits to Argentina and Uruguay - joins us now from Lima. Hey, Carrie.
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: Hi.
DETROW: I mean, the footage of his arrival last night was unbelievable. It was 3 million people packing the streets to greet him. And what has it been like to be in Peru?
KAHN: It's a huge party. This country is so happy, Scott, that the Pope is here.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing in Spanish).
KAHN: This is just a group of young people I ran into singing, swaying with their hands over their heads. People are just elated and very emotional too. The Pope, too, is like that. You know, he has this very subdued manner. He does smile and has a warm way about him, but here in Peru, he has been beaming. In his speech last night, he talked about the strong bonds he formed with his adopted homeland as a young missionary here and how this land remains with him.
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LEO XIV: (Speaking Spanish).
(APPLAUSE)
KAHN: He says, "this is why I can say to you, with the deepest gratitude, I am back in my homeland," he declared. His words drew the strong and sustained applause. He stood alongside the president, Keiko Fujimori, and joined in singing the national anthem, too, during the welcoming ceremony.
You know, the dynamics between them is going to be really interesting to watch. Leo was a missionary here during her father's rule, the former dictator, Alberto Fujimori. But you know that story better than I do, Scott. You wrote a book about Pope Leo, and you talked about that time.
DETROW: Right. Yeah. He's a missionary in Peru, like you said, in the '80s and '90s, when her father's government became increasingly authoritarian. And at the time Robert Prevost, as he was known then - he worked very hard to be nonpolitical. He thought that as a church figure, he would undermine his cause if he sided with one party or another. But he and other Augustinian priests in Peru did march and organize against the government's authoritarian actions.
KAHN: Wow.
DETROW: And then, later, as a bishop, when Fujimori was pardoned and released from prison, Prevost bluntly criticized him in a rare public comment about politics, saying that Fujimori needed to fully apologize to the Peruvian people. So, Carrie, that's actually one of my biggest questions about this trip. How has Leo been engaging in politics?
KAHN: It's just interesting to hear you say that he criticized them publicly because here he's just very calm. He's nonconfrontational. You know, he doesn't shy away from hitting political points. Like, I was with him in Uruguay and that country is very secular. It's the least Catholic country in Latin America. And he didn't - first thing, stepping off the plane, he said - you know, he talked about the country's secularism and the role of the state and the church and the church can have a bigger role. But he was not confrontational about it at all.
In Argentina, on the first day, too, he spoke plainly, saying economics cannot be put before the people, and that was seen as a clear critique of Argentina's far-right president's austerity cuts - but again, very calm and not accusatory. And here in Peru, he's already talked about how people deserve to be free of violence, implicitly talking about the rising extortion, crime and drug trafficking violence here.
DETROW: A lot of the tracks with what we've seen both before and after he became Pope. You know, he walks this fine line of being clear about his point of view without making it a direct confrontation with an individual and - something that Leo does and did before he became Pope. And now he's kind of frames it as standing up for church teaching, not siding in politics. We saw this, for example, in the way he denounced the U.S. war in Iran.
Carrie, though, looking forward, tomorrow, Leo is back in Chiclayo, where he spent eight years as a bishop. You spent some time there reporting, and you talked to somebody I know and who I've interviewed, Yolanda Díaz.
KAHN: Yes, Yolanda. She's 72, a lay member of the archdiocese in Chiclayo, and she worked very closely with Leo when he was the bishop. And I asked her, does she think his visit will have an impact on Peru's political leaders. You know, politics here has just been chaotic, a revolving door of presidents and increasing polarization. Here's what she said.
YOLANDA DÍAZ: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: "Look, if they don't want to lose power, they have to respond to what the pope says, because they are watching how he has the people's backings." That's what she said. He does head to Chiclayo tomorrow, a place that is very dear to him.
DETROW: That is NPR's Carrie Kahn, speaking to us from Lima, Peru. Thank you so much.
KAHN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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