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Catholics across the world are celebrating Pope Leo XIV, but his papacy has special meaning for one local community
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That's right. It all has to do with his time ministering in Peru. Fox News' Jessica Formoso is in the Little Lima section of Patterson, New Jersey, with more
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Pope Leo XIV addressing the faithful in Spanish as he overlooked the crowd in St. Peter's Square
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The American Pope, who was born in Chicago, spent most of his career in Peru
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where he served as a missionary and then from 2014 to 2023 as the Archbishop of the city of Chiclayo
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In Lima, Peru's capital, the bells of the cathedral rang once the world found out who the new Pope was
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In 2015, Pope Leo became a citizen of the South American country
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holding dual citizenship of the United States and Peru, making him the first pope of each country
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I'm very excited. What a joy. It is truly an incredible joy to know he a naturalized Peruvian pope He an excellent choice How wonderful It seems that he is a pope who follows the line of late Pope Francis
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and also he knows the Peruvian reality. And back here at home, we are in Patterson, New Jersey, in Lima Square
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where there is a big Peruvian community. Emotions are high as they are glued to the television, proud to see one of their own
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It's a great emotion. Feliz, feliz, immensely feliz. Immensely happy, so happy that he is a Peruvian pope
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proud to see the work he has done in Peru. Vanessa, who works at the restaurant Leña y Carbon
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calling him a humble man, a man of the people, a community pillar
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He has done a lot of work in Chiclayo for the needy, the children, poverty, everything
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The truth is we thought the new pope would be Filipino or Italian
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but never a Peruvian, a Peruvian at heart. Hoping he makes a trip back to Peru in his new role as the leader of the Catholic Church
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In Patterson, New Jersey, I'm Jessica Formoso, Fox 5 News
