A sculpture team in Callao, Peru, completed the largest statue in the country this week: a towering, nearly 46-feet-tall likeness of Pope Leo XIV, who is expected to return to his adopted homeland on Wednesday.
\n\nLocal media reported that the statue, both the tallest in Peru and the tallest statue of Pope Leo anywhere in the world, weighs four tons altogether and had to be dismantled to be shipped to its final location into two halves, each fitting into a trailer.
\n\nThe statue was designed and created by artist Rafael Gutiérrez Quispe and his team to honor the earthly head of the Catholic Church who, while being born and raised in the United States, served for decades in Peru and considers himself an honorary Peruvian. Prior to becoming pope, the clergyman Robert Prevost served as the apostolic administrator of the diocese of Callao from 2020 to 2021.
\n\nPope Francis served as the bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, from 2015 to 2023, but first arrived in Peru in 1985 as a missionary. Following his election in 2025, Peruvians celebrated as the newly appointed pope addressed them from the Vatican in Peruvian-accented Spanish, describing them as “a faithful people [who] have accompanied their…
Original source: https://www.breitbart.com/latin-america/
