Friday, 25 July 2025
CEP
Chiclayo (Agenzia Fides) – “The Conclave document that I deliver to you will be like a relic, because it is there that we placed all our votes, and it is one of the most important memories that Robert Prevost left us. May this be the gratitude of the Diocese of Lima for all you have done: you have elected a Pope.” With these words, Cardinal Carlos Castillo, Archbishop of Lima and Primate of Peru, addressed the faithful of Chiclayo during the Mass celebrated in the Cathedral of Santa María, on the occasion of the presentation of the conclave document that on May 8 elected Robert Prevost, Bishop of Chiclayo until 2023, now Pope Leo XIV.
“No one has done what you have done. You have elected a Pope,” Cardinal Castillo emphasized. “Without the experience of dialogue and mutual listening, the Church stagnates, reduced to rigid indoctrination, with absolute questions and answers, leaving no room for the novelty that the Lord brings us. Pope Leo XIV reminds us that doctrine is fundamental, because it summarizes the Church’s thought, but indoctrination forms people in series, without critical capacity. This type of education is pernicious because it impedes the fluidity of relationships and growth.”
The Cardinal encouraged the faithful to build community from the simplicity of the shared Gospel: “The best way to form a Christian community is to share the Gospel, savoring it in the encounter with the Other. The Lord revealed himself in our history as an ordinary human being, but with the greatness of humanity that comes from divinity. Therefore, we must dialogue and confront him. The Other infects us, and together we learn to be friends. This is something Robert Prevost learned from you,” reads the note released by the Episcopal Conference.
During the homily, referring to the Book of Genesis, Cardinal Castillo recalled that “without hospitality there is no humanity” and praised the faithful of Chiclayo for their openness and practical faith: “Your hospitable attitude is an example of how to express the Christian faith, always willing to welcome and solve problems together, as a community.”
The Archbishop of Lima also shared anecdotes from the conclave, the largest in the history of the Church, describing the election of Leo XIV as a “miracle,” since Prevost’s name was not among the expected candidates: “When his name began to appear, we were all surprised. There had never been a prior agreement. Then we began to meditate, and one of us, undoubtedly Latin American, said: ‘It’s Francis! He’s telling the Holy Spirit to blow, blow…’ And so we went to sleep that first night. The next day, we saw this miracle take place in an atmosphere of respect and gratitude to God, all convinced of the common good of the Church.”
For his part, Edinson Farfán, Bishop of Chiclayo expressed that the cardinal’s visit “makes us feel even more united to the Holy Father’s mission and invites us to pray fervently for him, so that the Lord may sustain him in this new stage of his Petrine ministry.” (AP) (Agenzia Fides, 25/7/2025)
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