The future Pope Leo XIV’s nine years of service were so well-regarded by the Peruvians of Chiclayo that they considered their former Bishop, the American Robert Prevost, a true “Chiclayano.”

He arrived in the lively city — hailed over time as the “Capital of Friendship” because of its peoples' welcoming and kind reputation — in 2014, first functioning as an apostolic administrator. On Sept. 26, 2015, he was named Bishop of Chiclayo. He became a naturalized citizen of Peru before his installation to honour a 1980 pact between the Vatican and the Peruvian government.

In the wake of Leo XIV’s ascendence to the papacy, people of his “adoptive city” have praised his innate desire to serve and minister to the suffering and to empower the laity. 

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Notably during his time in Peru, he delivered aid to Peruvians — donning boots and a poncho — devastated by torrential rain in 2023. He fronted the effort to secure two vital oxygen production plants during the COVID-19 pandemic. He provided support to Venezuelan refugees and helped their efforts to integrate into Peruvian society.

His efforts in Chiclayo captivated the Sisters of Charity-Halifax. This celebrated congregation of religious women has ministered in Peru for nearly 60 years.

Srs. Cecilia Hudec and Mary Anne Foster, who met Leo XIV in 2018 at a 50th-anniversary celebration of the Sisters of Charity launching their Peru mission, were overjoyed that the 133 cardinal electors chose him to become the earthly head of the universal Catholic Church.

“I had to hold back tears,” said Hudec, who evangelized in Peru from 1979 to 1990. “I was so overjoyed and excited. I was sitting with my other sisters saying ‘I know him! I know him!’ ”

Foster, who ministered in the South American country from 1984 to 1991, recounted how she hurriedly rushed into a room to celebrate with her religious sisters upon hearing the news.

“I went running through the corridor to join with the other group who was watching, yelling, ‘I know him, I know him,' ” said Foster. “I ran to greet Sr. Martha Loo, who is presently working in Chiclayo but just happened to be up for a little vacation time. We were just overjoyed. Everybody in the dining room where we were assembled looked and said, ‘what's the matter with these two?’ But we were both so, so excited because we knew, having met him, what a great choice he was for the people.”

Sr. Margaret Mary Fitzpatrick, the congregational leader of the Sisters of Charity-Halifax, was in Rome during the papal conclave attending an International Union of Superior Generals meeting. Fitzpatrick cherished the “eruption” in the ballroom when the white smoke became visible and celebrated this historic moment with 970 other religious sisters of different orders, cultures and generations.

The Brooklyn, New York, product added that she was “particularly overjoyed” knowing of Pope Leo XIV’s history in Chiclayo.

In 2025, the Sisters of Charity-Halifax are heralding the vocational work and the papal potential of Leo XIV. Seven years ago, at the 50th-anniversary celebration for the esteemed, now 175-year-old religious congregation, it was the future Pontiff who declared that the Chiclayo diocese “has been blessed by God with the presence of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Halifax.”

The then Bishop of Chiclayo wrote the following in a congratulatory letter: “The work carried out at San Jose Obrero Parish in La Victoria, and later in many other sectors of the diocese, has been extremely generous and blessed with much fruit. Now we can contemplate communities that live their faith with fidelity and that demonstrate to us that no work of evangelization is in vain. Good missionaries have taught us that sowing is done in tears, but reaping is done in songs of joy.”

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Drawn to Peru because of Pope John XXIII’s call to evangelize in the Global South, the Sisters of Charity have been joined by Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth priests and priests and lay missionaries from the Scarboro Missions to preach the Gospel and exemplify the charism of charity.

From the beginning, there was a focus on Scripture study and catechesis with a principal objective of forming lay leaders.  

“We wanted them to be the leaders,” said Hudec. “We weren't really the leaders. We were the pastoral agents that would help them to become Church and know who they are as Church.”

Similar to Pope Leo XIV, this sisterhood has responded to the needs of the people in Chiclayo. They were instrumental in helping the displaced Venezuelans fleeing that nation's economic meltdown who sought refuge in Peru. They have stood shoulder to shoulder with local farming families in standing against international mining operations.

One of the Sisters of Charity–Halifax’s allies through the years in Chiclayo is the St. John's Archbishop Emeritus Martin Currie, who from 1975 to 1980 served as a missionary and parish priest of San Jose Obrero.

Over the years, Currie and his friend Fr. James Richards, a retired cleric from Halifax-Yarmouth, have returned to visit Chiclayo many times.

“Their connections with the people are deep and very long-lasting,” said Foster. “They're loved in Chiclayo in a way that we love them here. They're just beautiful, beautiful men.”

Currie was present at the 50th anniversary celebration and met Pope Leo XIV. He shared his thoughts on this encounter in an email to The Catholic Register.

“I found him to be a very down-to-earth man and at Mass, he was extremely engaging with the people,” wrote Currie. “I was also impressed that he knew Augustinian priests that I knew from my studies at St. Francis Xavier University and visits to the Augustinian Monastery."

Love, interiority, humility and seeking wisdom are a few of the values preached by St. Augustine and are traits that Fitzpatrick, Hudec and Foster believe Pope Leo XIV will epitomize as the 266th successor of St. Peter. Each has specific hopes for what the new Bishop of Rome’s pontificate will represent.

“I’d like to see more full participation of women in the Catholic Church,” said  Fitzpatrick. “I think that he starts off as a brother to us. I am very encouraged that our brother, Pope Leo, will walk with us as women in the synodal spirit and will bring forth the gifts of all baptized Catholics.”                                                 

Foster expressed her admiration of how the new Pope is “is very conscious of our care for the world,” akin to the Sisters of Charity-Halifax.                               

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“Sometimes governmental figures aren't as close to the care of the Earth and our environment,” said Foster. “I know he will be. So, I'm looking forward to that.” 

Hudec said her experience of Pope Leo XIV is that “he is a deep listener, and he has the capacity to negotiate or to speak in a way that brings peace and brings good relationships.” She anticipates he will use that ability to mediate conflicts raging in the world.