PERU · RELIGION
Key Facts
- The country Peru, a largely Catholic Andean nation, is where Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV spent years as a missionary and later as a bishop.
- What happened The Archdiocese of Lima postponed a second preparatory meeting for clergy and religious orders ahead of Pope Leo’s visit, with no new date.
- Why now On Tuesday 13 October, surgeons in Rome removed the lower lobe of the pope’s right lung and confirmed lung adenocarcinoma, a type of cancer.
- The trip The Vatican programme has the pope in Peru from Wednesday 11 to Monday 16 November, with stops in Lima, Chiclayo, Cusco and Pucallpa.
- Prediction markets Kalshi gives an 86% chance that Pope Leo visits Peru this year, down from 93% a day earlier (14 October, 4:12 a.m. ET).
- Power Index Peru ranks 5th of 14 in The Rio Times Latin America Power Index, with 54.7 points (October 2026 edition).
- Still open Whether doctors clear a 12-day, three-country tour that begins 24 days after the operation.
Lima’s Catholic Church has postponed a planning meeting for Pope Leo XIV’s November visit to Peru, hours after his lung cancer surgery in Rome. For American Catholics and US travellers booked for the trip, it is a sign that the diagnosis is already touching preparations on the ground.
Auxiliary Bishop Guillermo Elías, head of the organising commission, announced the delay on Tuesday in a written statement to clergy. Infobae Perú reported it that evening, and archdiocese spokesman Juan José Dioses told Lima broadcaster RPP that “so far the apostolic trip is confirmed”.
What the Lima Church Put Off
The postponed event was the second preparatory meeting for priests and members of religious orders in the Lima ecclesiastical province, which includes neighbouring dioceses. Elías wrote that the new date, time and place will be announced later, according to Infobae Perú.
In the same statement, he said organisers “continue working” so that every activity planned for the encounter with Pope Leo takes place. Dioses told Infobae Perú that the delay affects only the clergy meeting and does not cancel or delay the papal trip.
He added that the church can “only wait calmly and prudently” for official announcements expected this week. He did not say who would make them, but the Holy See, the Catholic Church’s central government, sets the pope’s travel.
What Doctors in Rome Found
The Vatican said surgeons at Rome’s Gemelli hospital removed the lower lobe of Pope Leo’s right lung on Tuesday 13 October. A tissue test during the operation confirmed lung adenocarcinoma, a common type of lung cancer, as earlier scans had suggested.
He spent about three hours in the operating room, and the procedure itself took around 90 minutes, according to Vatican News. The Vatican said the planned one-week hospital stay had not changed and that further tests on the removed tissue would follow.
Pope Leo, 71, was born in Chicago and became the first US-born pope in May 2025, as the 13 October report on his diagnosis explains. He spent years in Peru as a missionary and later served as bishop of Chiclayo, a city in the country’s north.
How Peru Is Reacting
Peru’s conservative president, Keiko Fujimori, responded to the diagnosis with a call to “unite our faith in a great chain of prayer”. El Comercio and Infobae Perú carried her words, and Dioses told RPP that the faithful have started a prayer chain for the pope.
The pope’s personal secretary, Edgard Iván Rimaycuna, a 36-year-old priest from Chiclayo, has described him as “very calm” about the diagnosis. Chiclayo parish priest Carlos Samamé received that reply in a message and repeated it at a Mass on Tuesday, Infobae Perú reported.
Elías also called a day of prayer for the pope’s health on Wednesday 14 October in all parishes and communities of the archdiocese. He entrusted the pope’s recovery to the Lord of Miracles, the Lima devotion whose sanctuary is the Las Nazarenas church.
The Peru Programme at Stake
The Holy See’s programme, published on 21 September, runs from 6 to 17 November across Uruguay, Argentina and Peru. Pope Leo is due to land at the Callao air base, next to Lima, at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday 11 November.
He would then fly to Chiclayo on Friday 13 November and on to Cusco and the Amazon city of Pucallpa on Sunday 15 November. The Peru leg ends with a Mass at Las Palmas Air Base in Lima and a flight to Rome on Monday 16 November.
Dioses told RPP the tour spans 14 cities and 35 speeches, calling it the pope’s longest apostolic trip. He said Peru is the most demanding stop geographically, because the pope must travel to a city at high altitude.
What It Means for You
US pilgrims and tour groups booked for Lima, Chiclayo or Cusco can keep their plans for now but should check refund terms. Lima’s archdiocese says the trip stands, and Peru’s government said on 11 October that the programme had not changed.
A lung specialist quoted by La República, Dennis Valer Ugarte, said recovery from this kind of planned keyhole surgery takes about 10 to 14 days. He added that an exhausting visit on top of the stress of surgery is “definitely not the healthiest” choice for the pope.
The Peru leg alone includes four domestic flights between 13 and 15 November, plus a return helicopter trip from Chiclayo on 14 November. Until the Vatican speaks, travellers should treat the dates as planned but not certain, and our Lima city guide covers the capital.
What Prediction Markets Say
On Kalshi, a US exchange regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), bettors give an 86% chance that Pope Leo visits Peru this year. That price stood at 93% a day earlier, before the Vatican confirmed the cancer (14 October, 4:12 a.m. ET).
The same Kalshi series puts Uruguay at 84% and Argentina at 81%, with about 217,000 contracts traded across all countries. These are bets on an outcome, not polls and not forecasts by the church.
Why we show this: prediction markets turn real-money bets into a live probability that moves within minutes of the news, which is why investors, campaigns and newsrooms in the United States now follow them closely. We show them next to polls and official results, never instead of them.
What Is Not Known
It is not known whether doctors will clear the pope for a 12-day tour that starts less than four weeks after surgery. The Vatican has not said whether he needs further cancer treatment, pending tests on the removed tissue.
Lima’s archdiocese has not set a new date for the postponed clergy meeting. It has also not said whether any other preparatory events for the papal visit will move.
More: Peru news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Pope Leo’s visit to Peru cancelled?
No, the Archdiocese of Lima says the apostolic trip remains confirmed for now, and the Holy See had announced no change by Wednesday morning. Only a preparatory meeting for clergy in Lima has been postponed.
When is Pope Leo due in Peru?
The Vatican programme has him landing in Lima on Wednesday 11 November and leaving for Rome on Monday 16 November. In between, he is scheduled to visit Chiclayo, Cusco and Pucallpa.
What surgery did the pope have?
On 13 October, surgeons in Rome removed the lower lobe of his right lung, and tests confirmed lung adenocarcinoma. The Vatican said the operation went without complications and the planned one-week hospital stay is unchanged.
Should US travellers change their plans?
The Archdiocese of Lima says the trip stands for now, so travellers can keep bookings while checking refund and change terms. The archdiocese expects official announcements later this week.
Sources: Holy See Press Office (trip programme), 21 September 2026; Holy See Press Office (surgery statement), 13 October 2026; Vatican News, 13 October 2026; Infobae Perú, 14 October 2026; RPP, 14 October 2026; La República, 13 October 2026; Infobae Perú, 14 October 2026; El Comercio, 13 October 2026; ACI Prensa, 13 October 2026.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief
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