(11 May 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Chiclayo, Peru – 10 May 2025
1. Close up of photo of Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, with Venezuelan migrants in Peru
2. Medium shot of Venezuelan migrant living in Peru, Betania Rodríguez, showing a photo of herself and another migrant with Prevost
3. Various photos of Prevost with migrants
4. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Betania Rodríguez, Venezuelan migrant:
"I am very grateful to him because he was very supportive. I hope he doesn’t forget us because we carry him here (in our hearts), always. We are eternally grateful for all the support he gave us. From helping us get our resident ID to the fact that we were able to get a house so we could have a safe roof over our children’s heads. May he continue with that legacy, because here in Chiclayo he will always have the support of volunteers and migrants when he brings his beautiful ideas for all the migrants."
5. Various shots of Betania Rodriguez with her family
6. Virgin of the Miraculous Medal
7. St. Vincent de Paul Shelter House, Virgin of the Miraculous Medal statue
8. Various shots of Gabriela Morillo with her children
9. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Gabriela Morillo, Venezuelan migrant:
"He came at the end of the year 2022. He was here with other priests and talked with us. I never imagined that this would be the future pope."
10. Various shots of Gabriela Morillo with her children inside her house
STORYLINE:
In front of a migrant shelter, just 900 meters from the Peruvian Pacific, Venezuelan Betania Rodríguez gazes at the photos stored on her tablet.
One image, taken in 2019, shows her standing beside Robert Prevost—then the bishop of the small town of Chiclayo—who would later become Pope Leo XIV.
Prevost is fondly remembered by locals in Chiclayo, a town on Peru’s northern coast, but also by Venezuelan migrants who began fleeing their country in 2017 amid a deepening economic crisis.
Many of them, like Rodríguez, found refuge and sustenance at a shelter operated by Prevost and the Order of St. Vincent de Paul.
In his own way, Prevost advocated for the protection of migrants—one of the central concerns of his predecessor, Pope Francis.
Peru received a significant wave of Venezuelan migrants, now numbering around 1.5 million, who have spread across the country, including to Chiclayo.
When he inaugurated the shelter in 2019—a modest structure with wooden walls and a tin roof, marked by a lone statue of the Virgin Mary near its entrance—Prevost called it a "very important project because it offers a place where people in great need can be welcomed… to feel hope again." He added that offering such help made it possible "to live the spirit of the gospel."
Rodríguez recalled that the migrants had nowhere to stay because they had no jobs.
"I hope he doesn’t forget us because we carry him here (in our hearts), always. We are eternally grateful for all the support he gave us." said Rodríguez to the Associated Press.
"May he continue with that legacy, because here in Chiclayo he will always have the support of volunteers and migrants when he brings his beautiful ideas for all the migrants." she added.
The current bishop of Chiclayo, Edinson Farfán Córdova, recalled Prevost’s stay in northern Peru and described Leo XIV on Friday as being committed to the migrant cause.
AP video by César Barreto
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