Chiclayo marked Pope Leo XIV’s return to his former diocese on Nov. 13 with twin messages: clergy must turn synodality into practice by shedding clericalism, and students must resist technology that erodes human dignity.
At the Shrine of Our Lady of Peace, Leo said lay participation is not a concession but a baptismal right, and called listening to the poor, migrants, indigenous people and families a required part of the Church’s mission.
At Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo Catholic University, he warned against reducing higher education to job training and said science without conscience and technology without a soul become tools of oppression and exclusion.
The pope, who led Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023, urged students to pair study with prayer and told professors to put truth before opinion and turn expertise into social justice and care for creation.