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CHICLAYO, Peru — A vast crowd gathered outside Peru’s northern city of Chiclayo early on Friday for the centerpiece event of Pope Leo’s 12-day South America tour, an outdoor Mass with the people who knew him as their bishop for eight years.
More people were heading in vehicles and on foot to an arid field just outside Chiclayo, a city 10,700 km (6,650 miles) from Rome, where the former Robert Prevost, elected leader of the Catholic Church last year, is still described as “Padre” (Father) or “Amigo” (Friend).
Lines of cars forced many to walk part of the way to Pampas de Pimentel, a vast desert park west of the city where Leo will lead Friday’s Mass.
Among them was Karina Chinglay, 40, walking with her mother and two children, all in matching Pope Leo shirts.
“We knew it was going to be quite a large turnout, but we didn’t imagine the scale of it,” she said.
Along the road, vendors sold hats, mini pope dolls and sweet Peruvian bread.
The pope, originally from Chicago, is visiting Peru on the emotional final leg of a three-nation tour.
In just over a week in South America, Leo has drawn an estimated 10 million people to public events so far.
He declared on Wednesday that the country where he served as a missionary for about 20 years was his homeland.
Leo was due to arrive in Chiclayo from Lima around 9 a.m. (1400 GMT) and will stay in the area until Sunday to lead eight events, including a private dinner with the priests who once reported to him as bishop.
Chiclayo, Peru’s fourth-largest city, where agriculture supports the economy, has a population of about 620,000.
Some had camped overnight at the Pampas de Pimentel, including Maria Esther Chozo Reyes, 76, who had taken a 12-hour bus ride from Lima and arrived on Thursday afternoon.
“He knows the people of Chiclayo, and he’s lived here; he’s made his mission here,” she said. “We really need his blessing.”
Crowds for Leo’s visit to Peru have been the largest of his 18-month papacy, with some 3 million gathering in Lima on Wednesday after his arrival from Argentina.
Officials in Chiclayo have estimated that a million could come for the Mass there.
The pope also visited Uruguay on the tour.
Leo, who began his South America tour less than a month after lung cancer surgery, has appeared in good form on one of the most intense foreign tours arranged for a pope in decades.
In Peru, he has enthusiastically greeted crowds on rides in an open-air popemobile, made unannounced appearances on the balcony of the Vatican Embassy in Lima, where he was staying, and sung local songs at events.
