A 45-foot statue of Pope Leo XIV is unveiled in Peru in time for his arrival
Callao, Peru, unveiled a 14-meter statue of Pope Leo XIV, the tallest statue dedicated to a pontiff in the country. The statue stands in Niño Gaelito Park and was created by sculptors Deyvi Wong Arana and Rafael Gutiérrez Quispe, with funding from Caja Huancayo. Callao officials and Bishop Luis Alberto Barrera Pacheco attended the unveiling as the city prepares to welcome Pope Leo XIV to Peru. The municipality said the statue honors the Pope’s evangelizing work and impact on the diocese; he served as bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023.
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A 45-foot statue of Pope Leo XIV was unveiled in Callao, Peru, ahead of his visit to the country. City officials said it honors the pope’s religious service in the region and reflects local pride, gratitude, and faith. 1
The statue stands in the newly opened Niño Gaelito Park, named for Jesús Gael Alejandro Rodríguez, a four-year-old who died rescuing his sister from a fire in March. The monument is 14 meters tall overall, including a 12-meter statue on a two-meter pedestal. 1
Sculptors Deyvi Wong Arana and Rafael Gutiérrez Quispe made the figure using a metal framework, polyurethane foam, fiberglass, and polyester resin, with a marble-like finish. Caja Huancayo funded the project. 1
Callao Mayor Cesar Pérez led the unveiling ceremony, joined by Bishop Luis Alberto Barrera Pacheco, Monsignor Guillermo Inca Pereda, Caja Huancayo president Jorge Guillermo Solís Espinoza, and governor-elect Pedro Spadaro. The municipality described the work as a tribute to Leo’s evangelizing efforts in the diocese. 1
Leo served as bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023, apostolic administrator of Callao from 2020 to 2021, and second vice president of Peru’s bishops’ conference from 2018 to 2023. His visit was scheduled to begin Nov. 11, with a welcome by President Keiko Fujimori, an audience at the Government Palace, and an address to officials at the Grand National Theater. 1*
Sacred images mediate papal authority and popular Catholic devotion
The claim is partly supported, but its reference to papal authority needs qualification. Catholic teaching does describe sacred images as mediating devotion: they direct the faithful beyond the material image toward Christ or the saint represented, and they can assist prayer, catechesis, and imitation. The supplied texts, however, do not establish that sacred images themselves mediate papal authority, or explain a specific connection between papal authority and popular devotion.
“Mediate” here should mean that an image serves as a sign or aid that directs attention and prayer—not that the image possesses divine power in itself. The Church’s principle is:
“the honour rendered to the image is directed to the person represented”
Thus, veneration is directed to Christ or the saint depicted, not to paint, wood, or stone as though the material object were divine. The Directory warns against believing that images contain a power that warrants worship or that one should place one’s trust in the image itself.
Images can also make the faith visible and memorable. The Directory describes them as visual expressions of the Gospel, aids to prayer, prompts to imitate the saints, and forms of catechesis. Images of the saints ultimately point to Christ, whose grace is glorified in them. Popular devotion may express this through prayer before images, processions, flowers, or votive offerings; the Church recognizes these as practices of popular piety while insisting that they be guided by sound teaching.
The texts do speak of ecclesiastical oversight of sacred images. Bishops and sanctuary rectors are charged with ensuring that images used in public devotion are dignified and do not foster error. That is a real connection between images and Church authority: devotion is not treated as wholly private or beyond pastoral guidance.
But the supplied passages do not specifically mention the pope, papal office, or images as instruments for communicating papal authority. So the claim should not be taken to mean that veneration of an image, by itself, expresses obedience to the pope or proves papal jurisdiction. The evidence here supports a narrower point: the Church authoritatively guides the use and interpretation of images, while popular devotion gives them a place in communal and personal religious life.
The Church neither treats images as spiritually irrelevant nor as objects with autonomous power. Their purpose is to lead beyond themselves. Pope Francis states that sacred images “point beyond themselves,” inviting the faithful to turn their hearts toward the living Christ; unlike the Eucharist, an image is not itself the real presence to be worshipped.
The Directory also cautions against making a particular image an absolute standard of devotion. An image may become closely associated with a city, nation, or community, and that history can deepen prayer and cultural identity; such devotion should nevertheless lead to greater faith, charity, hope, and praise of God.
A more precise formulation, therefore, would be: sacred images mediate popular Catholic devotion by directing the faithful toward Christ and the saints, within a practice guided by Church authority. The supplied sources support that claim; they do not substantiate the more specific assertion that images mediate papal authority.