This is Chiclayo, the Peruvian city where Leo XIV lived and enjoyed the election with memes.

“Greetings to all of them, and in a particular way to my beloved Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru, where a faithful people have accompanied their bishop, shared their faith, and given so much to continue being a faithful Church of Jesus Christ.” These were the words Robert Prevost spoke immediately after being elected pope under the name of Leo XIV. The cardinal was thus remembering the land where he had lived since the mid-1980s, where he became its bishop, and through which he also obtained a new nationality. Prevost is American by birth, but also Peruvian on his passport . And in Peru, on Thursday, memes about the Peruvian pope they had been assigned were quickly circulating.

Desireé Rubio de Marzo is Peruvian and spent her entire childhood in Chiclayo. The White Smoke caught her working in Barcelona—she's been living in Spain for two decades—and she couldn't believe it when her phone filled up with messages about the new Pope. Some included a meme about Prevost as the next "pope." Also from her mother, who still lives in this city, one of the most important in Peru after Lima, along with Arequipa and Trujillo (it has around 610,000 inhabitants according to the 2022 census).

Rubio de Marzo, however, wasn't surprised by Prevost's pastoral work in this northern city, which, as she tells this newspaper, has all the "warmth" and "good temperament" of northerners. "It's a coastal area, it's warm almost year-round, and there are a lot of surfers. It's a friendly city ," she says.

And also Catholic, actually, like the entire country. “Yes, not as much as Chile, but almost. Everyone considered decent goes to schools run by nuns or priests, and there are some co-educational schools, but they tend to be separate. Peru is a Catholic and conservative country ,” says this journalist, who also attended a religious (and Augustinian) school and laughed when she asked her mother if she had met the new Pope . No, she had never met him.

And there are quite a few who have seen him eating ceviche. The image isn't just a meme. Which isn't surprising, either, because Chiclayo is considered one of the areas with the best gastronomy in the country, considering that Peruvian culinary culture is currently at the top of the world list. "We have our own ceviche, and there's also a northern cause," he says. Another cultural aspect of the area is the dance, the northern marinera, a popular folklore that everyone knows. You'd have to ask Leo XIV if he's ever danced it too.

It is considered one of the areas with the best gastronomy in the country, now that Peruvian culinary culture is at the top

On the other hand, as with other parts of the country, Chiclayo also has its pre-Inca archaeological zone. Most tourists flock to Cusco and Machu Picchu, but nearby is the site of El Señor de Sipán , the tomb discovered in 1987 with many valuable objects belonging to the Mochica culture, which dominated northern Peru in the 3rd century. A civilization that predates the Incas.

However, Chiclayo isn't exactly a city that thrives on tourism because tourists don't make it there, despite the good communications and flights from Lima. Its economy has been driven more by trade and agriculture. Even tobacco was grown there. Over time, however, Rubio de Marzo asserts, the area has become impoverished, partly due to weather conditions such as the famous El Niño phenomenon , which often leaves everything devastated by the rains. "It's a disorderly city, sometimes dusty," this journalist acknowledges. Despite this, it is a modern city, with its large supermarket chains, banks, and other businesses, making it the commercial capital of the north. And this is where Pope Leo XIV carried out his mission . The Peruvians in Chiclayo were exultant. "It's funny that the new Pope came from this very place in Peru ," Rubio de Marzo concluded.

“Greetings to all of them, and in a particular way to my beloved Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru, where a faithful people have accompanied their bishop, shared their faith, and given so much to continue being a faithful Church of Jesus Christ.” These were the words Robert Prevost spoke immediately after being elected pope under the name of Leo XIV. The cardinal was thus remembering the land where he had lived since the mid-1980s, where he became its bishop, and through which he also obtained a new nationality. Prevost is American by birth, but also Peruvian on his passport . And in Peru, on Thursday, memes about the Peruvian pope they had been assigned were quickly circulating.