Pope Leo XIV greets a toddler from the popemobile on arrival to celebrate mass at the esplanade of Santa Cruz de Succhabamba, Cajamarca region, Peru. (AFP pic)SANTA CRUZ DE SUCCHABAMBA: Pope Leo XIV warned Saturday that the heartland of the ancient Inca Empire was "suffering," as the remote, poverty-stricken communities he served as a missionary in Peru shrink dramatically.
The head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics flew by helicopter to the isolated town of Santa Cruz de Succhabamba in the Andes mountains -- an area he visited on horseback when he lived in Peru as Robert Francis Prevost.
Despite undergoing cancer surgery just one month ago, the 71-year-old pope was determined to visit the town -- which sits among green peaks at an altitude of over 2,000 meters (6,560 feet) -- during his 12-day tour of South America.
