DOUGLAS GAVRAS
“Welcome to Chiclayo, the city of Pope Leo 14,” says the newly installed poster on the Peruvian city boardwalk. On Saturday night (10), the bells of the Basilica summoned a crowd for an open mass in honor of the Pontiff.
Residents gathered at 8 pm (10 pm Brasilia) in front of Santa María Cathedral, in the city center, where Robert Prevost acted for almost a decade.
The yellow building is the most important building of the city’s main square. Beside, at City Hall, Leo 14 -faced lanes and the phrase “Blessed Chiclayo” were installed.
P, until it became a cardinal by decision of Pope Francis. It was the Parish of Chiclayo that he mentioned in his first speech after becoming Leo 14.
“Our city has entered the vocabulary from around the world because it is the least we can do,” says missionary Carmen Sosa, 45.
The current bishop of the city, Edinson Farfán Cordova, remembered with emotion the passage of Prevost in the region and reaffirmed that, although the new Pope was born in the United States, it was with the Peruvians that he learned to be a priest near the people.
“How not to celebrate [a escolha do novo papa]? He was evangelized by our people, for the people here. He is a great shepherd, smelling of sheep. Chiclayo, the city of friendship, accompanies the Holy Father, from Latin America, the continent of hope, to the whole world, ”said the bishop.
The choice of the new Pope strengthened the pride of Peruvians. As they stirred small and white (Vatican) or red and white flags (Peru), the gifts sang, “I love, I love the Peruvian Pope.”
The crowd applauded whenever the priests mentioned something that resembled the region: the Peruvian saints Santa Rosa de Lima and St. Francis Solano, the Mother Church of Piura, the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary in Lima.
At the time of the Eucharist, the faithful took the opportunity to make interventions, repeating “Pope, friend, good is with you” and “Papa, Chiclayo is blessed with you.”
“He taught us to live the gospel, is someone sensitive to human pain. Let’s invite him to visit us and, for sure, Chiclayo will be in the script,” concluded the bishop.
