去年，利奥十四世作为教宗首次从圣彼得大教堂阳台发表讲话时，他停顿了一下，然后短暂地从意大利语切换到西班牙语。“向所有人致意，”他微笑着说。“特别是向我亲爱的奇克拉约教区致意，在秘鲁。”在成为天主教会最高世俗权威之前，71岁的芝加哥本地人罗伯特·弗朗西斯·普雷沃斯特在秘鲁担任了二十年神父和主教，在那里他精通西班牙语并入了秘鲁国籍。
While delivering his first speech as pope last year from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, Leo XIV paused, and then briefly switched from Italian to Spanish. "A greeting to all," he said, smiling. "And in particular to my dear Diocese of Chiclayo, in Peru." Before he was elevated to the highest earthly authority in the Catholic Church, Robert Francis Prevost, a 71-year-old Chicago native, spent two decades as a priest and bishop in Peru, where he mastered Spanish and became a naturalized citizen.
他从2015年到2023年担任奇克拉约教区主教，奇克拉约是太平洋沿岸的一座小城市。本周，教宗返回秘鲁，开启其拉丁美洲庆祝之旅的最后一站，这场旅程充满政治张力。在拉丁美洲，天主教正在衰落，被福音派基督教教会的兴起所取代，一批右翼政治家上台执政，其纲领常常与利奥的教义相冲突。此次访问也发生在利奥被诊断出患癌症、接受肺部肿瘤切除手术仅几周之后。
He served from 2015 until 2023 as diocesan bishop of Chiclayo, a small city near the Pacific coast. The pontiff returned to Peru this week for the final leg of a celebratory but politically charged Latin America tour, where Catholicism is in decline, eclipsed by the rise of evangelical Christian churches, and a new wave of right-wing politicians have come to power on platforms that often clash with Leo's teachings. The visit also comes just weeks after Leo, who was diagnosed with cancer, had surgery to remove a tumor on his lung.
在阿根廷，利奥对自由派总统哈维尔·米莱的紧缩运动进行了含蓄批评，坚称经济必须服务于最弱势群体。在布宜诺斯艾利斯，利奥探访了一家为400多名残疾人提供服务的机构，这一选择具有象征意义，因为米莱政府已拖欠残疾人护理资金。“一个国家的进步，”利奥说，“也体现在它如何欢迎所有残疾人和有特殊需求的人。”
In Argentina, Leo delivered a veiled critique of libertarian President Javier Milei's austerity campaign, insisting that economies must serve the most vulnerable. In Buenos Aires, Leo visited a facility that serves more than 400 people with disabilities, a symbolic choice because Milei's government has withheld funding for disability care. “A nation’s progress," Leo said, "is also measured by how it welcomes all people with disabilities and particular needs.”
在秘鲁，教宗呼吁伸张正义，因为该国正面对其动荡的过去，这些言论似乎指的是威权领袖阿尔韦托·藤森的有争议的遗产，阿尔韦托是新当选总统凯科·藤森的父亲。利奥批评了老藤森执政期间记录在案的人权侵犯行为，并在秘鲁生活期间领导了亲民主行动。
And in Peru, the Pope urged justice as the country confronts its turbulent past, remarks that seemed to reference the controversial legacy of authoritarian leader Alberto Fujimori, the father of newly elected President Keiko Fujimori. Leo has criticized the human rights violations documented under the elder Fujimori's reign and led pro-democracy actions while living in Peru.
担任主教期间，利奥曾为委内瑞拉移民创建住房项目，并帮助许多人获得合法身份，他也与庆子·藤森的移民立场相左，后者承诺要驱逐因委内瑞拉政治和经济危机而逃往秘鲁、且缺乏合法身份的100多万人。但在利马，当教皇乘坐教皇专车巡游时，有300万人沿街欢迎，人群的狂喜在很大程度上掩盖了紧张气氛，他们高呼“利奥！”欢迎教皇。
Leo, who while bishop created a housing project for Venezuelan migrants and helped many attain legal status, is also at odds with Keiko Fujimori's immigration stance, including her promise to expel the more than 1 million people who fled political and economic crises in Venezuela and lack legal status in Peru. But in Lima, where 3 million people lined the streets to greet the pontiff as he cruised by in the popemobile, tensions were mostly overshadowed by the elation of the crowds, who greeted him with chants of "Leo!"
藤森在利马大国家剧院与教皇同台时赞扬了教皇，并表示“要向前迈进，秘鲁需要和解”。利奥在讲话中大部分时间深情回顾了他在秘鲁的时光，包括在那里结交的友谊以及对国菜酸橘汁腌鱼的喜爱。教皇说：“这次回访对我有着非常特殊的意义。我正在回到我的祖国。”尽管天主教徒仍是拉丁美洲最大的宗教群体，但近年来人数一直在下降，许多人转投福音派教会。
Fujimori praised the pontiff during an appearance with him at the city's Gran Teatro Nacional, adding that “to move forward, Peru needs to reconcile." Leo spent most of his speech fondly recalling his time in Peru, including the friendships he made there and his love of ceviche, the national dish. "This return visit holds a very special meaning for me," the pope said. "I am returning to my homeland." Though Catholics still make up the largest religious group in Latin America, their numbers have been declining in recent years, with many joining evangelical churches.
例如在秘鲁，根据皮尤研究中心最近对六个拉美国家的调查，自称天主教徒的成年人比例从2013年的76%降至今年的67%。调查发现，在阿根廷，天主教徒比例从71%降至56%，墨西哥则从81%降至71%。利奥此行被视为旨在振兴该地区信仰的努力。行程始于乌拉圭，该国被认为是拉美最世俗化的国家。周五，利奥将北上奇克拉约，与一群铭记他曾是一位活动家神父、与教区信徒关系特别亲密的社区共同举行弥撒。
In Peru, for example, the number of adults who identify as Catholic dropped from 76% in 2013 to 67% this year. That's according to a recent survey of six Latin American countries by the Pew Research Center Survey. In Argentina, the Catholic presence dropped from 71% to 56%, the survey found, while Mexico slipped from 81% to 71%. Leo's visit is seen as an effort to bolster the faith in the region. The trip began in Uruguay, which is considered Latin America's most secular country. On Friday, Leo will travel north to Chiclayo, celebrating mass with a community that remembers him as an activist priest who was particularly close to his parishioners.
“他非常有同情心，”奇克拉约长期担任教会志愿者的法比奥拉·里斯科·帕切科说，“雨季时，他会加入大家帮忙应对洪水。他会穿着雨靴出现在那里。”
"He was so compassionate," said Fabiola Risco Pacheco, a longtime church volunteer in Chiclayo. "During the rainy season, he would join in and help with flooding. He’d be there in his boots.
为了到达车辆无法抵达的高地部分地区，他会步行或骑驴前往。里斯科私下认识利奥，从他爱吃酸橘汁腌鱼，到他倾向于与经历艰难时刻的教友一同落泪。她的儿子和这里的许多年轻人一样，曾由利奥主持坚振礼。她表示，在他当选教皇后，“没人能相信。大家开始在社交媒体上发布他们的坚振礼照片。”
To get to parts of the highlands where vehicles can’t reach, he would walk or ride a donkey." Risco got to know Leo personally, from his taste for ceviche to his propensity to cry alongside parishioners who were going through hard times. Her son, like many youngsters here, was confirmed by Leo. After he was elected pope, she said, "no one could believe it. Everyone started posting their confirmation photos on social media."
随着新冠疫情在秘鲁肆虐，夺去数十万人的生命，当时被亲切称为罗伯特神父的他发起了一场紧急行动，为社区争取医用氧气。梵蒂冈新闻网援引总主教保罗·罗科·瓜尔蒂耶里的话报道，利奥被视为一位“与他的子民同行的牧人”。“他们感觉与他非常亲近，”他说。“他真心把心献给了秘鲁。”
As the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged Peru, killing hundreds of thousands of people, the man then known fondly as Padre Robert led an emergency campaign to secure medical oxygen for his community. Leo was seen as a "pastor who walked with his people," Archbishop Paolo Rocco Gualtieri told the Vatican News. “They feel very close to him,” he said. "He truly gave his heart to Peru.”
近几周，这座城市一直在筹备迎接他们著名的前居民，以及预计将前来探望他的数万民众。他们绘制了壁画和海报欢迎教皇，并兜售印有他头像的T恤。该市主教座堂制作了一个教皇的等身纸板剪影，供游客合影留念。圣玛丽亚主教座堂的助理本堂神父胡安·梅钱·桑切斯表示，为筹备教皇来访，他每晚只睡几个小时。
In recent weeks, the city has been preparing to host their famous former resident and the tens of thousands of people who are expected to travel there to see him. They have painted murals and posters to welcome the Pope, and hawk T-shirts plastered with his face. The city's main cathedral created a life-size cutout of the pontiff that visitors can pose with. Father Juan Mechán Sánchez, the parochial vicar at Santa María Cathedral, said he had been sleeping only a few hours each night in preparation for the pope.
教皇的访问正值福音派基督教在拉丁美洲迅速扩张之际。梅钱表示，他希望此次访问能激发天主教信仰的复兴。他说，利奥建立了“一座向所有人敞开、欢迎所有人的教会”。“我希望人们把他的回归视为一个契机，重振他们的信仰，以及对教会和上帝的承诺。”
The pope's visit comes as evangelical Christianity rapidly gains ground across Latin America. Mechán said he hoped the visit would spur a renewal of Catholic faith. Leo, he said, had made "an open, welcoming church for everyone." "I hope people see his return as an opportunity to renew their faith and their commitment to the Church and to God."
