The election of Pope Leo XIV has renewed hopes in this indigenous Mochica community on Peru’s north coast that an apparent 17th-century miracle involving images of the Christ Child could be recognised by the Vatican.
Thousands of pilgrims visit Etén annually to venerate the Divine Child of the Miracle— which, according to tradition, appeared to worshippers in a consecrated host at a celebration of the Eucharist on the eve of Corpus Cristi in June 1649.
Another reported apparition of the Child Jesus occurred, as well as the image of three small hearts, the following month during a religious festival.
Paintings of the apparition are displayed in the old chapel of St Mary Magdalene Parish in Etén, approximately 10 miles from Chiclayo—the city Pope Leo served as bishop from 2015 to 2023.
Then-Bishop Robert F Prevost was among the many coming to venerate the Divine Child of the Miracle. He helped start the process of formally recognising this as a Eucharistic miracle in Etén, delivering a document to the Vatican in 2019 that included more than 20,000 testimonials of faith.