LIMA — Interim President José María Balcázar announced that Pope León XIV is scheduled to visit Peru in the first half of November 2026. The Vatican has not officially confirmed the trip.

Mr. Balcázar made the announcement following an audience with the Pope at the Vatican on a Thursday. The planned papal itinerary includes visits to Lima, Chiclayo, Piura, Cusco, and Pucallpa, with potential stops in Puno and Iquitos.

Pope León XIV played a role in the proceedings regarding the Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana. The late Pope Francis issued a decree officially dissolving that group one week before his death. Members of abuse survivor groups from the Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana have requested a meeting with the Pope during the visit.

Speaking on the significance of the visit, Reverend Ramiro Castillo, superior mayor of the Augustinians of the North, discussed the political divisions in the country. "The political division is very clear, some from one party, others from another, and no one wants to lose. I believe that one of his challenges is to ask for unity for us, for he will say it very clearly, that we put aside all grudges, all rivalries, all insults," Castillo said.

César Piscoya, an advisor for the Pastoral Action Programs and Networks Center of the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council, stated that the invitation requires a process of conversion or exhortation from León. "The invitation being made from the country for him to be part of an encounter with his people here in Peru requires that there also be a significant process of conversion or exhortation from León towards those in the central government. He has sufficient authority to help us politically to generate transitions, to generate those changes that the people are demanding from their authorities. He managed, in a space and in a dynamic of community coordination, to give response to an expression of the people that was not always heard," Piscoya said.

No independent assessment of León XIV’s claims was available.