President Kuczynski met Pope Francis at the Vatican today, to extend the formal invitation for the pontiff’s visit to Peru in January next year.
“I am happy to confirm Pope Francis’ visit to Peru, in January 2018,” said President Kuczynski after his visit. “His arrival will unite us and open paths of hope to a better future.”
The meeting, which the president described as “magnificent”, was held in the pontiff’s private library, where they discussed climate change, the political situation in Venezuela and the region, and the fight against corruption.
“I explained a bit about the cabinet changes, we talked also a little about the world situation, especially on the issue of climate change, and about his visit to our country,” Kuczynski told a local Vatican radio station.
The Pope is to visit Peru between Jan. 18 and 21, when he will visit Lima, Puerto Maldonado and Trujillo. On the pope’s final day in Lima, a mass is to be held on the Costa Verde beach that is expected to attract over two million people. During Pope John Paul II’s first visit to Peru 22 years ago, in Feb. 1985, more than a million people gathered for mass on the grounds of the Jockey Club’s racetrack in Monterrico.
Kuczynski was accompanied to Rome by his ministers of Foreign Relations, Ricardo Luna, and of Labor and Employment Promotion, Alfonso Grados, as well as by the first lady, Nancy Lange, and his head of protocol, Juan Carlos Gamarra.
The President’s gifts to the pope included a wood and silver varayoc, an Inca staff of authority, and his aide-de-camp presented the pope, an avid soccer fan, with a t-shirt from Peru’s national soccer team.
Fighting Corruption
In Kuczynski’s discussion on the fight against corruption, he told the Pope that during the next Americas Summit, to be held in Lima in April 2018, he intends to propose the creation of an Inter-American Court on Corruption.
