Lima (AFP) – The interim president of Peru, José Jerí, will be received on May 11 by Pope Leo XIV, to whom he will give an invitation to visit the country where he worked for more than two decades, the government reported this Wednesday.

First modification: 02/12/2026 - 12:13

The announcement comes after the Peruvian Episcopal Assembly reported a week ago that the pope would visit Peru in November or December of this year.

"The occasion would serve for the head of state to personally transmit the invitation and share the fervor with which the Peruvian people await his visit," indicated the Peruvian Foreign Ministry on the social network X about the audience granted to Jerí.

The new leader of the Catholic church, Robert Francis Prevost, 70, is a native of Chicago, United States, but has also had Peruvian nationality since 2015.

The pope lived for more than 20 years in Peru, where he arrived for the first time in 1985 while preparing his doctoral thesis. The following year he left and returned from 1988 to 1998, when he held different positions in the Order of Saint Augustine, of which he is a member.

In 2014 he returned as auxiliary bishop of Chiclayo before being appointed to head that diocese, from 2015 to 2023, by Pope Francis.

He left Peru in January 2023 when Francis appointed him Cardinal Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

The eventual arrival of Leo XIV was mentioned last week by the president of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference, Monsignor Carlos García, upon his return from the Vatican.

The visit "is 80% assured" and only logistical details are missing to close the date, he indicated.

Former president Dina Boluarte invited the pope last May during an audience at the Vatican. Jerí replaced Boluarte in October after being dismissed by Congress.

© 2026 AFP

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