Days ahead of Pope Leo XIV’s highly anticipated arrival in Peru for the final leg of his first Latin American pastoral tour, local authorities and religious leaders have unveiled the world’s tallest monument dedicated to the pontiff, a 14-meter fiberglass landmark positioned to greet him as he returns to the nation he called home for over two decades.
Unveiled on a Monday, less than 48 hours before the pontiff’s scheduled November 11 landing, the gleaming white marble-finished statue sits prominently in a Pacific Ocean-facing public square in Callao, the port region adjacent to Peru’s capital Lima. Completed in a record 45 days of construction, the sculpture depicts Pope Leo XIV clad in traditional papal vestments, with arms outstretched in a gesture of welcome and pastoral care.
Peruvian Episcopal Conference president Carlos García Camader led the official blessing ceremony for the new monument, confirming that the pontiff is expected to pass directly by the statue during his November 16 visit to a local Callao nursing home. The region holds deep personal history for the pope, who served as apostolic administrator of the Callao diocese through the height of the COVID-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2021.
During the ceremony, García Camader extended gratitude to Callao’s municipal authorities for spearheading the project, framing the monument as a tangible public symbol of shared faith and collective hope for the port community. He also revealed that local officials have commissioned a large companion mural honoring the pontiff, noting that his upcoming visit carries special significance for Callao, which has long grappled with high rates of violent crime and extortion. The religious leader expressed optimism that the papal trip would foster greater peace, social harmony, and fraternity across the troubled province.
Ordinary Callao residents lined the square to celebrate the new landmark, describing it as a source of deep local pride. Local resident Marisol shared that she and her neighbors are eager for the pontiff to lead prayers for national peace across Peru, while fellow community member Dora highlighted the pope’s decades of hands-on pastoral work in the region, noting that locals see him as a beloved returning member of their community rather than a distant global religious figure.
Callao provincial mayor César Pérez framed the statue as a collective tribute from Peruvian Catholic communities to their self-identified “Peruvian pope,” referencing the pontiff’s official adoption of Peruvian citizenship after his decades of service in the country. He praised the cross-sector collaboration that brought the project to life: the full construction cost was donated by leading local financial institution Caja Huancayo, which commissioned acclaimed Peruvian artists Rafael Gutiérrez and Deyvi Wong to design and execute the full monument.
Pope Leo XIV’s six-day Peru visit, running November 11 to 16, marks the concluding stop of his first official Latin American tour, which has already included stops in Uruguay and Argentina. His packed Peruvian itinerary will take him across diverse regions of the nation, with scheduled visits to Lima, Chiclayo, Cusco, Pucallpa, and the smaller rural towns of Zaña and Santa Cruz de Succhabamba. His deep ties to the country stretch back more than 20 years, when he first arrived to take up a series of frontline pastoral roles across different dioceses, before eventually rising to serve as bishop of Chiclayo.