When Prevost arrived in Peru as a young missionary, the memory of the Bishop of San Miniato
Not many people realise that when Robert Prevost arrived in Peru as a young missionary in the 1980s, he found himself facing an extremely difficult situation, as the Bishop of San Miniato, Monsignor Giovanni Paccosi – himself a missionary in the country – tells us
The third and final leg of the Pope’s trip to Latin America, Peru, is close to his heart, and the Pontiff, visibly moved on his arrival in Lima, made no secret of it. “This return,” he explained, “has a very special meaning for me; I am returning to my homeland, and if I were allowed to relive those years (more than twenty spent in the country), I would do so with joy.”
Prevost’s arrival in Peru
Over three million people lined the streets to welcome him. Now, however, as he himself has explained, Prevost returns as the successor to Peter and addresses a country marked by deep political polarisation, a painful past to come to terms with, crime and an environmental crisis.
In his first address, the Pope addresses a number of issues, ranging from the plight of migrants to social justice: ‘To love a people,’ he says, ‘means wanting everyone to be able to live with dignity.’
Memoirs of the Bishop of San Miniato
Not many people realise that when Robert Prevost arrived in Peru as a young missionary in the 1980s, he found himself facing an extremely difficult situation, as the Bishop of San Miniato, Monsignor Giovanni Paccosi – himself a missionary in the country – tells us.
‘Those were the years when terrorism was on the rise, the years of Shining Path,’ says Paccosi. ‘In the early days, the Pope found himself living with the possibility of being kidnapped or killed. Shining Path, in fact, regarded the Church as an ally of the establishment, because instead of inciting the people to revolution, it kept them placated through charity and fraternal aid. Some members of the clergy were also killed, but Prevost decided to stay.”
