Every baptized person must proclaim the Gospel, Pope preaches to 500,000 in Chiclayo

November 14, 2026

Pope Leo XIV returned to Chiclayo, the see of the diocese he led from 2014 to 2023, and preached on “the urgent and binding duty of every baptized person to proclaim the Gospel.”

Following an impromptu greeting from the apostolic nunciature, Pope Leo XIV flew from the Peruvian capital of Lima to Chiclayo on November 13, the eighth day of his apostolic journey to three South American nations (program). One million people lined the streets as he was driven from the arrival airbase to the Pampas de Pimentel, the site of the outdoor Mass (video 1, video 2).

The Pope—who was apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo from 2014 to 2015, and its bishop from 2015 to 2023—began:

What a joy it is to return to Chiclayo! It is a blessing for me to be with you once again. Thank you for your affection, the support and your prayers, especially for my health during this time of trial which, with God’s help, I am overcoming.

As I look at your faces, a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord arises in my heart for the blessing you have been and continue to be in my life and episcopal ministry. I keep you very much in my prayers. I also ask you to continue praying for me, that Our Lord Jesus Christ may grant me the grace to strengthen always my brothers and sisters in the faith.

“All Christians, whether ordained ministers or lay faithful—regardless of the degree of formation we have received in the faith—are missionary disciples,” Pope Leo preached to the crowd of 500,000. “Proclaiming Jesus Christ is a crucial task, and for which we often feel inadequate.”

He continued:

First, we must place Jesus Christ at the center, both of our proclamation and of our existence. Then, we must understand that coherence is not merely the fruit of our own will, but it is also a grace for which we must implore the Lord and with which we are called to cooperate through our personal commitment and effort ...

The Lord awaits us above all in the Eucharist and in the word, the two “tables” that nourish us and give us life. But he also comes to us through ecclesial communion and the fraternal welcome we extend to our neighbor, where we find him present and in need. Evangelizing, therefore, does not mean imposing doctrines or trusting in efficient strategies, but bearing witness to that real encounter with Jesus Christ.

In discussing evangelization, the Pope preached that

• “the joyful and life-giving transmission of the message of salvation calls for an attitude of humility and solicitude on our part, as well as profound respect for each person’s conscience and freedom. In this task, it may help us to recover the practice of ‘praying together,’ especially in our homes, remembering that Christian families are the missionary nucleus.”
• “the proclamation of the faith is linked to charity and the care of those most in need ... At the same time, charity is inseparable from truth, which is not a theory, an abstract idea or a utopia, but a person, Jesus Christ, who invites us to conform our lives to his in faithful obedience to his commandments.”
• “we proclaim what we have encountered, the salvation we have experienced, the forgiveness of sins granted to us and the discovery of the true meaning of life, because every Christian is a missionary to the extent that he or she has encountered the love of God in Christ Jesus”

The Pontiff concluded:

Dear brothers and sisters, the world is waiting for us and the mission is only beginning. Therefore, here in Chiclayo and throughout Peru, I invite you—beginning with this first celebration of our reunion at the Lord’s altar—to commit yourselves to sharing the living hope that is Jesus Christ and to let the Gospel “overflow” from our hamlets, villages, towns and cities, proclaiming to all the “glory of the Lord.” May the intercession of Our Lady of Evangelization help us in the task of proclaiming the Good News to all creation (cf. Mk 16:15). Amen.

 

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Further information:

• Greeting of the Holy Father from the balcony of the Apostolic Nunciature in Lima (Dicastery for Communication - Vatican Media, 11/13/26)
• Greeting of the Holy Father from the balcony of the Apostolic Nunciature, Departure from Lima and arrival in Chiclayo (Holy See Press Office, 11/13/26)
• Pope Leo: Let's continue with the same spirit of joy in Chiclayo (Vatican News, 11/13/26)
• Apostolic Journey to Peru: Holy Mass (Dicastery for Communication - Vatican Media, 11/13/26)
• Holy Mass at the “Pampas de Pimentel” (Holy See Press Office, 11/13/26)
• ‘Proclaiming Christ is a crucial task,’ Pope Leo tells faithful in Chiclayo, Peru (Vatican News, 11/13/26)