Pope Leo XIV will return on Saturday to Zaña, a small farming town in northern Peru where his ministry as a bishop began, to mark the 300th anniversary of the canonization of St. Toribio de Mogrovejo, the 16th-century archbishop of Lima who died in the town during Holy Week in 1606.

The visit is part of the pope's homecoming journey to Chiclayo, the diocese he led for years before his election. As a missionary priest, the then-Rev. Robert Prevost spent the night before his ordination as a bishop praying in a chapel before a relic of Toribio, and he began his work as a bishop in Zaña. Leo takes inspiration from Toribio, who traveled widely to visit the far-flung parts of his flock and who is now the patron saint of Latin American bishops.

Zaña carries a heavy history. The town once had a large population of enslaved Africans, and Toribio is remembered for defending the dignity of enslaved people and of Indigenous peoples. "Zaña is the cry of the oppressed," the Rev. David Farfán, pastor of the town's St. Toribio de Mogrovejo parish, told Religion News Service. Toribio founded one of the first seminaries in Latin America and required his priests to learn Indigenous languages such as Quechua and Aymara, so that the people could be served by priests from their own communities.

The pope's return has stirred deep feeling in a town that often feels overlooked. Farfán, who has served in Zaña for 11 years, said the visit was added to the schedule after plans to visit the Quechua-speaking region of Incahuasi were dropped because strong winds made a helicopter landing unsafe. But he also said the Zaña stop will be private rather than open to all, which has left many townspeople upset. "We are the forgotten ones of Chiclayo," he said.

Leo's ties to Zaña are practical as well as spiritual. When he was bishop, Prevost asked Farfán what the community needed most. A survey found that nearly 97 percent of those asked wanted a school covering preschool through high school. The church had an empty building, and the school that grew from that effort — named for St. Nicholas of Tolentino — now serves 280 students. Prevost gave the youngest classrooms the names "faith," "hope" and "charity," and he returned every year to celebrate Mass for the school's patronal feast day, sharing lunch with the staff at their own tables.

Water was the next urgent need. The district received as little as three hours of water a day, but the school campus now has its own well, which Prevost blessed in 2021. The regional government of Lambayeque has also invested in new infrastructure on the school grounds ahead of the pope's visit, including walkways, bathrooms and a large shaded structure for the gathering.

On Thursday, two pilgrimages arrived in Zaña ahead of the pope: one carrying the Virgin of the Assumption from Cutervo, and another carrying the cross of Olmos, both objects of deep popular devotion. At the Saturday gathering, representatives of local marginalized groups, including migrants, will spend time with Leo. Forty migrants and 16 volunteers planned to travel to a town outside Zaña and then walk the final 40 minutes on foot as a pilgrimage, said Augusto Martínez, coordinator of a migration ministry Leo helped shape. "We have all the joy about seeing him, but to be honest, more than seeing him or touching him, it's hearing the message" he brings, Martínez said, as the country faces violence, crime, illegal mining and corruption.

For the people of Zaña, the visit is about more than a single day. "But what will remain," Farfán said, "is that Zaña will be a sanctuary. Thanks to Pope Leo."