Pope Leo XIV Prays for Peace in Peru Amid Rising Crime Rates

Pope Leo XIV asked for an end to the violence affecting Peru on Saturday as he traveled to his former diocese.

Official data shows the homicide rate in Peru has nearly doubled in five years, rising from 5.8 to 10.7 per 100,000 people. Reports of extortion increased from 2,421 cases in 2019 to 26,734 cases in 2025. Between 2016 and 2024, the country recorded 1,261 femicide victims, and the annual number of women killed because of their gender rose by 44 percent during that period. Peru is the world's second-largest producer of coca leaves, after Colombia, and faces widespread illegal gold mining.

Leo, formerly Robert Prevost, served as bishop of Chiclayo from 2014 to 2023. He arrived in the city on Friday to a large welcome. On Saturday, he held a ceremony at the Cathedral of St. Mary in Chiclayo, where he entrusted his pontificate to the Virgin Mary. He then flew by helicopter to Santa Cruz de Succhabamba, a community 150 kilometers from central Chiclayo and 2,035 meters above sea level. As bishop, Leo drove to the mountain community in a pickup truck. Rev. Kevin Noriega, who oversees pastoral services in the region, told the congregation before Mass, “We all know the pope’s love of cars. He would drive everywhere.”

At the cathedral, Leo described the “darkness” enveloping Peru, citing rising crime and political instability. He said, “We feel threatened by the uncertainty of widespread violence and by the unspeakable suffering that continues to afflict so many of our brothers and sisters. Yet, despite this darkness, which so often dims our hope and weakens our trust, God’s gift continues to shine before our eyes.”

In Santa Cruz de Succhabamba, Leo addressed the temptation to respond to injustice with force. He urged the faithful to rely on prayer, patience, and perseverance. “Selfishness, injustice and evil are not overcome by brutality, but by prayer, patience and perseverance in denouncing what is wrong, by making our pleas with determination and working diligently to bring about the necessary changes,” he said.

President Keiko Fujimori, who took office in July, has declared states of emergency in Lima and in prisons holding inmates linked to criminal organizations. She has also joined the “Shield of the Americas,” a U.S.-led regional coalition for joint military operations against drug cartels. Before Leo's visit, Fujimori toured the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador, a maximum-security megaprison she has expressed interest in replicating.

Leo is scheduled to meet with Amazonian and Indigenous peoples on Sunday. He will celebrate a final Mass in Lima on Monday before returning to the Vatican.