Pope's visit to hub of Afro-Peruvian community casts spotlight on African slave trade to Peru

ZAÑA, Peru (AP) — When Susana Baca, the Latin Grammy-winning Afro-Peruvian singer, serenaded Pope Leo XIV upon his arrival in Peru, it was a sign that the visit would provide an unparalleled spotlight on the culture that grew out of the African slave trade in this country.

Baca was also Peru’s first Black Cabinet minister, and she became a leading figure in the campaign to end the discrimination that has long made second-class citizens of Black Peruvians and Peru’s Indigenous peoples.

The U.S.-born Leo, whose own family tree includes enslaved people and slave owners, is expected to highlight Peru’s African-descended community when he visits the hub of Afro-Peruvian culture on Saturday in the city of Zaña.

Leo will lead a prayer meeting at the sanctuary of St. Turibius of Mogrovejo in Zaña, where he often visited to pray while he was bishop of nearby Chiclayo.

In the 16th century, Mogrovejo was the first archbishop of Lima. He defended the rights of Indigenous and enslaved people and was known for having confirmed St. Martin de Porres, the first Black saint of the Americas and the patron saint of racial harmony, social justice and people of multiracial backgrounds.

In his first encyclical, “Magnificent Humanity,” Leo made a sweeping apology for the role of past popes in legitimizing slavery and failing to condemn it for centuries. It was a reference to the series of 15th-century directives from the Vatican that authorized European sovereigns to conquer Africa and the Americas and enslave non-Christians.

“It is impossible not to feel deep sorrow when contemplating the immense suffering and humiliation endured by so many in stark contrast to their immeasurable dignity as persons infinitely loved by the Lord,” Leo wrote. “For this, in the name of the church, I sincerely ask for pardon.”

The estimated 100,000 African slaves brought to Peru after the arrival of Spanish conquistadores toiled in sugar plantations and silver mines, with some becoming urban artisans. At one point, they and their descendants were more than 40% of Lima’s population.

Blacks now are a small fraction of Peru's 35 million people. But they have struggled to advance in the more than 170 years since emancipation.

The national census in 2017 reported that 1,311 people residing in Zaña identify as Afro-Peruvian, while in the entire Lambayeque region, the figure was 78,639.

Baca told The Associated Press that she felt connected to the pope because of the importance he has placed in asking forgiveness for injustices.

“I believe that one of the most important things in the history of Afro-Peruvians is that we did not remain submerged despite our history of suffering," she said. “We are an Afro-Peruvian people who have learned to forgive.”

“And perhaps this is what connects me, in my conscience, to the pope. I feel that in all his homilies and teachings, the pope emphasizes the importance of asking for forgiveness and forgiving — that the injustices of many moments in history are less painful if we have the capacity to forgive and to be forgiven."

She said she chose to sing “Canción de Fe” (“Song of Faith”) and “Si me quitaran totalmente todo” (“If Everything Were Taken From Me”) to the pope because they embody the same notion of faith that Leo shares.

Zaña, a historic town of northern Peru located in the Chiclayo province, was recognized by UNESCO in 2017 as a “site of memory of slavery and African cultural heritage.” Peru's government says the recognition is the first of its kind granted to a Peruvian Afro-descendant community or comparable communities along South America's Pacific Coast.

“There are communities capable of withstanding any blow — even seven ‘El Niño’ weather phenomena, or the even harsher, more perverse blows dealt by the darkest side of humanity, such as slavery,” former Culture Minister Salvador del Solar said during a ceremony in Zaña’s main square.

“Communities like Zaña can truly say that no blow has ever been strong enough to break them completely; they continue to reaffirm their Afro-descendant identity with pride.”

The Afro-descendant community is celebrating the return of Leo, their former bishop, and is particularly proud of Baca’s performance before the first pope with Black roots.

“I’m so proud to see an Afro-Peruvian person singing to the pope, and to know that Black blood courses through his veins,” said Felipe Gutierrez, a local chef and a poet known as Frontado.

“That the pope has Afro-descendant blood is also a source of pride for Zaña because Zaña identifies with the Afros,” said Gutierrez, who writes and improvises the Peruvian art form known as “decimas.”

All four of Leo’s maternal great-grandparents were “free people of color” in Louisiana based on 19th-century census records. As part of the melting pot of French, Spanish, African and Native American cultures in Louisiana, the pope’s maternal ancestors would be considered Creole.

Zaña is home to an Afro-Peruvian museum, which features a rich collection of historical photographs, plantation carts and percussion musical instruments of African origin from Peru, Cuba and Brazil. It also stores documents of enslaved people and some of the shackles used to restrain them.

One of its walls has photos of Leo during visits to the town when he was bishop. There are also large framed photographs of Barack Obama, the first Black president of the United States, as well as South African anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela.

“We pay homage to them here in Zaña,” Gutierrez said during a recent visit to the museum, wearing a Chicago Bulls shirt with Michael Jordan’s iconic number 23 on the back. Chicago is where Leo was born.

“They show us how someone who is Black as we are in Zaña became a president and we’re proud because we all deserve the same rights," Gutierrez said. “Black, Indigenous, all of us are equal in the eyes of God.”

Winfield contributed from Chiclayo, Peru.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Pope Leo XIV arrives for a meeting with the university community at Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo Catholic University in Chiclayo, Peru, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Faithful wait for the arrival of Pope Leo XIV on the occasion of his meeting the university community at Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo Catholic University in Chiclayo, Peru', Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV meets the university community at Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo Catholic University in Chiclayo, Peru', on the eighth day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV waves to the faithful as he arrives for a meeting with the university community at Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo Catholic University in Chiclayo, Peru, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Pope Leo XIV delivers his message during his meeting with the university community at Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo Catholic University in Chiclayo, Peru', Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

The Federal Aviation Administration's decision to ground all flights nationwide for several hours Friday threw the sports world into chaos, leaving NBA, NHL and college teams scrambling to reach their destinations in time for games this weekend.

Transportation officials cited “extraordinary circumstances” caused by communications issues at regional air traffic control centers for the stoppage. It left some teams searching for hotel rooms, others rescheduling flights, leagues adjusting start times, and some teams had took the extraordinary step of chartering buses rather than waiting for the ground stop to end.

“We're going to allow for general aviation, those larger movements, to take place as a priority. Smaller movements will take lower priority,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said after the ground stop was lifted Friday night in Washington.

No. 19 Mississippi’s football game at Oklahoma was moved from Saturday to Sunday at 1 p.m. EST because of travel issues. Oklahoma athletic director Roger Denny was upset with the decision, saying the Southeastern Conference threatened Oklahoma with a forfeit it did not agree to the move.

“I understand that difficult decisions sometimes must be made under extraordinary circumstances,” Denny said in a statement on X. “Put simply, this decision isn’t fair to our athletes, our institution or to Sooner nation."

Most college football teams playing Saturday travel the day before their game, and the stoppage left many schools — including No. 2 Utah, No. 8 Texas and No. 9 Tennessee — at a standstill as they departed for road games. The Utes play at No. 22 Arizona, the Longhorns visit No. 24 LSU and the Vols are traveling to Texas A&M in three of the bigger games of the weekend.

“The Southeastern Conference is aware of the FAA's nationwide ground stop and the potential impact on team travel,” the league said. "The safety and well-being of student-athletes, coaches and team personnel remain our highest priority.”

Texas and Tennessee both returned to their campuses during the ground stoppage. Once it was lifted following more than four hours of uncertainty, the schools began making plans to fly out as soon as possible, allowing them to arrive before game day.

Auburn opted to take a bus to Mississippi State with the SEC pushing back the Saturday start time from noon EST to 4:15 p.m. to give the Tigers a little buffer. Purdue likewise decided to board buses from West Lafayette, Indiana, for its game at Iowa.

Other schools affected by the stoppage included Baylor, Washington, Kansas State, Minnesota and Arizona State.

The Big 12 said the Kansas-West Virginia game scheduled for 5:30 p.m. EST would be moved up to 3:30 p.m. since the Jayhawks arrived in plenty of time. That allowed the league to shift the Arizona State-UCF game from 2:30 p.m. EST to 5:30 p.m., giving the Sun Devils an additional three hours after their flight from Arizona to Florida was delayed.

Washington spokesman Kurt Svoboda said the Huskies returned to campus when their flight was grounded, but officials stayed in touch with their airline partners and the flight crew remained in place. The Huskies ultimately flew out late Friday for their game at Michigan State on Saturday, which will start at 5:30 p.m. EST, 75 minutes later than originally scheduled.

It was unclear whether any referees, who typically fly to their assignments the day before games, would have trouble reaching their games. The Big Ten said in a statement that all of its officials had arrived for their scheduled assignments Saturday.

Several teams were able to take off before the stoppage began, including all of those traveling in the Atlantic Coast Conference; Missouri, which was flying to top-ranked Georgia; Duke, which was visiting fifth-ranked Miami; and No. 10 Texas Tech, which posted on social media images of its arrival for a game at Oklahoma State.

NFL teams playing Sunday typically travel the day before their games. They were expected to fly as planned on Saturday.

In the NBA, the Cleveland Cavaliers played in Miami on Friday night but won’t fly home until Saturday morning and plan to land about eight hours before a home game against the Dallas Mavericks. NBA teams hardly ever fly in on the day of a game, but there have been some circumstances — often weather-related — where it has happened.

At least two other NBA teams had Friday night flights pushed to Saturday morning, but those teams aren't playing Saturday night. Cleveland scrambled to get hotel rooms re-booked in Miami, after checking out of their hotel earlier Friday.

“It’s part of it. You just adapt,” Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson said.

There are 14 scheduled games in the NHL on Saturday. The Panthers were among the majority that made it to their destinations before the stoppage began. The Sharks, who were left waiting in San Jose to see whether they would be able to travel, arrived later Friday in Utah.

JuJu Watkins and her third-ranked Southern California teammates were trying to get to South Carolina for their game Sunday against the top-ranked Gamecocks. The team had just boarded its flight at Los Angeles International Airport when the ground stop was issued. After a while, the decision was made to deboard passengers and the team returned to the Galen Center.

In soccer, the Utah Royals already were in the Washington, D.C., area ahead of their National Women's Soccer League semifinal against the Washington Spirit on Saturday. But the Kansas City Current were supposed to depart Friday for their semifinal against Gotham FC on Sunday in New York, and team officials were uncertain when their flight would be allowed to leave.

The U.S. national team's match against Haiti on Saturday in Miami was unaffected by the ground stop. Both teams and officials already were in town for the first leg of the two-match CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal series.

AP Sports Writers Jim Vertuno, Aaron Beard, Tim Reynolds, Larry Lage and Beth Harris contributed to this report.

See AP’s full sports coverage here

People walk past a flight board at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, in Arlington, Va., after the FAA issued a nationwide ground stop. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)

Aircraft are seen at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International airport, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Planes sit on the tarmac at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in DFW Airport, Texas, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all flights nationwide. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)