Pope Leo XIV urges Peru to end violence
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Al Jazeera
During a visit to Santa Cruz de Succhabamba, in the Peruvian Andes, Pope Leo XIV called for an end to the violence affecting Peru and urged people not to respond to injustice with brutality. According to official figures cited by the Associated Press, the homicide rate has almost doubled in five years, rising from 5.8 to 10.7 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Pope Leo XIV called on Peru on Saturday to end the violence afflicting the country, urging residents not to respond to injustice with brutality, reports Al Jazeera. He was speaking in his former cathedral in Chiclayo, the city where he served as bishop, and said he felt 'threatened by the uncertainty of generalised violence'.
Peru is experiencing a sharp rise in homicides: their rate has almost doubled in five years, from 5.8 to 10.7 per 100,000 inhabitants. Reported cases of extortion rose from 2,421 in 2019 to 26,734 in 2025, according to official figures cited by the AP.
Conservative President Keiko Fujimori, who took office in July after promising to tackle crime, declared a state of emergency in Lima, the capital, in August, then in prisons in September, reports Al Jazeera. She has also brought the country closer to Washington by joining Peru to the 'Shield of the Americas', a regional coalition led by the United States for joint military operations against drug cartels.
On Saturday, some 20,000 people attended an open-air Mass in Santa Cruz de Succhabamba, an Andean town of around 6,000 inhabitants. There the pope said that selfishness, injustice and evil are not overcome by brutality, but by prayer, patience and perseverance. He also referred to rural communities where migration and falling birth rates are emptying villages.
This visit has several highlights. On Friday, the pope met six abuse victims in Peru, and on Saturday he celebrated an Amazonian Mass in Pucallpa.
