Jubilee Year in Peru for the 300 years of the Canonization of Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo

As of December 10, 2025, the Church in Peru will live a jubilee year in honor of Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo, commemorating the 300 years of its canonization, with the intention of reviving the missionary fire of this great evangelizer in Peru and Latin America.

This was explained by the missionary priest David Farfán Guerrero, pastor of the temple of Santo Toribio in Zaña – Locality in Chiclayo, Peru, where the saint died -, in an interview granted to Ewtn News

For Father Farfán, celebrating this jubilee, which will last until December 2026, it is not only an act to remember the life of this great saint, but an opportunity to renew pastoral life in Peru and Latin America. “There are several important reasons,” he said.

“The first is that he is the patron of the Latin American and Caribbean episcopate, but also because of the reality that Santo Toribio lived. He accesses the request of Felipe II, the king of Spain, to come at a very conjunctural moment of Peruvian history, in which the people of God needed a pastor,” he said in the interview.

Toribio de Mogrovejo, lawyer and Spanish lay at the time of his election, was appointed archbishop by King Felipe II, precisely because of his great prestige and deep sense of justice.

“He was not a clergy or priest, he was a layman who was invited by the king to consecrate and come to Peru. He was still a very young man and of great prestige. He had solved ecclesiastical cases and also in the civil order, and was a fervent Catholic,” said Fr. Farfán.

Once consecrated bishop, Toribio transformed the ecclesial life of the Viceroyalty of Peru. Not only did he walk his vast archdiocese on foot – when there were still no parochial structures as today – but promoted the first major seminar of the continent, promoted catechesis in native languages ​​and laid the foundations of a truly missionary church.

“A bishop on foot who was next to each place, without leaving anyone neglected,” said Fr. Farfán. “Like many of the missionaries – including Pope Leo XIV,” became more Peruvian than many Peruvians, and thus brought the Gospel. “

The priest also highlighted his synodal vision, which led him to organize important councils and decentralize the pastoral government to reach the farthest regions.

“Toribio realized that the Church is one, and that as one needs everyone, a single body. That is why he worked on the synods that he promoted, decentralizing power towards farther regions of Lima,” he says.

Great Bill Mass and Works in Zaña

The Jubilee Year will officially begin with a great camping Mass on December 13, 2025 in the Chiclayana town of Zaña, in which the participation of more than 15,000 faithful, in addition to bishops, priests from all over the country and the Apostolic Nuncio on behalf of Pope Leo XIV.

“That day a great camping mass will be held (…) There is a lot of expectation, because remembering that great evangelizer of this region will allow us to also renew the apostolic fire that motivates us to bring the gospel in our time,” said Fr. Farfán.

In parallel, the regional government and other civil authorities are collaborating with the expansion of the Sanctuary of Santo Toribio in Zaña, to be prepared for the event.

“You have to go against the time, but we trust that on December 13 we will have this structure. This has been promised by the regional government, which works with us so that this can come true,” said the priest.

Finally, Fr. Farfán called on the authorities and the entire Church to join around this celebration. “I know that the Holy Father will be happy if the spiritual guide has due recognition. The Toribian Jubilee Year is a priority,” he concluded.