VATICAN CITY (AP) — Peru’s ambassador to the Holy See publicly invited Pope Leo XIV to visit his second homeland on Saturday, as 2026 is shaping up to be an important year for the pontiff’s travel with big trips under study for Africa and South America.

In recent days, the president of Equatorial Guinea and the Vatican ambassador in Angola have both confirmed that plans are underway for a papal trip this year, on top of rumored stops in Cameroon and Algeria. No dates have been announced but Vatican officials say the four-country Africa visit would likely take place sometime after Easter.

Leo himself has said he wants his second trip as pope to be in Africa, especially Algeria, which has special significance for Leo’s Augustinian religious order. Algeria also plays an important role in Christian-Muslim relations that the Vatican is keen to highlight.

Leo has also said he hoped to visit three countries in Latin America in either 2026 or 2027: Argentina, Uruguay and Peru, where he lived for two decades as a missionary and where he holds citizenship. Argentina especially has been waiting for a papal visit, after Pope Francis never went home after his 2013 election.

On Saturday, Peru’s new ambassador to the Vatican, Jorge Ponce San Roman, publicly invited Leo to visit during a ceremony in the Vatican gardens to inaugurate a new mosaic and statue dedicated to the Virgin Mary that Peru sponsored.

With all Peru’s bishops on hand, Ponce said he and his fellow citizens “hoped to see you very soon in Peru.”

Leo didn’t respond but in his brief remarks at the ceremony recalled Peru was “such a beloved country to me.”

In a break with usual protocol, Leo then stayed for a buffet lunch that the Peruvian Embassy organized for the invited diplomats and Vatican officials in the gardens. For around an hour, Leo sat with Ponce and the Peruvian bishops in a shady, hidden spot back where the caterers were preparing pisco sour cocktails and plates of ravioli with huancaina, the typical Peruvian creamy sauce.

Despite an occasional rain, the party had a joyful, relaxed vibe and Leo’s prolonged presence suggested he feels very much at home with his fellow Peruvians.

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