section_path: Bishop of Chiclayo (2015–2023)
section_name: Bishop of Chiclayo (2015–2023)
paragraph_text: Bishop of Chiclayo (2015–2023)
  
  On November 3, 2014, Pope Francis appointed Prevost as the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo in northern Peru and the titular bishop of Sufar. He was consecrated on December 12, 2014, at St. Mary's Cathedral in Chiclayo by Archbishop James Green, Apostolic Nuncio to Peru. On September 26, 2015, he was named Bishop of Chiclayo. As required by a 1980 pact between the Holy See and Peru, Prevost became a naturalized Peruvian citizen before becoming bishop.
  
  Prevost developed a close bond with the diocese of Chiclayo, directing a special message to them in his first message as Pope, calling them "my beloved diocese", "faithful people" and "faithful church". He was seen as being "very faithful to the Church's social doctrine " and organized relief efforts during calamities. He also supported projects in favor of Venezuelan refugees and encouraged vocations in youth groups, giving strong support to the seminary. According to interviews done by The Pillar, people in the diocese described their bishop as having a "balanced" personality, a "calming presence", showing "great charity and great clarity" in doctrinal matters, and a bridge-builder with "apostolic zeal".
  
  On July 13, 2019, Prevost was appointed a member of the Congregation for the Clergy, and on April 15, 2020, he became apostolic administrator of Callao. On November 21, 2020, he joined the Congregation for Bishops. Within the Episcopal Conference of Peru, he served on the permanent council (2018–2020) and was elected president of its Commission for Education and Culture in 2019, also contributing to Caritas Peru. While bishop, he established a diocesan Commission on Integral Ecology and appointed a woman to lead it. Prevost had a private audience with Pope Francis on March 1, 2021, sparking speculation about a new role in Chicago or Rome.
  
  Prevost has been accused of covering up sexual abuse during his time in Chiclayo. In 2022, alleged victims of abuse in 2007 by priests Ricardo Yesquén Paiva and Eleuterio Vásquez Gonzáles said the Diocese of Chiclayo failed to investigate their cases. The Diocese of Chiclayo stated that Prevost followed proper procedures, met with Ana María Quispe and her sisters in April 2022 to personally attend the victims, encouraged them to initiate a civil action, and initiated a canonical investigation, the results of which he sent to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. The sisters stated in 2024 that no full penal canonical investigation occurred, and an investigation by América Televisión concluded that the church's investigation was not thorough.
  
  Speaking to the Peruvian newspaper La República while Bishop of Chiclayo, Prevost said: "If you are a victim of sexual abuse by a priest, report it. We reject cover-ups and secrecy; that causes a lot of harm. We have to help people who have suffered due to wrongdoing." Journalist Pedro Salinas, who investigated and exposed crimes committed by members of the now-defunct Sodalitium Christianae Vitae —including sexual, physical, and psychological abuse—has argued that Prevost always expressed his support for the victims and was one of the most reliable clerical authorities in Peru, leading Pope Francis to select him as prefect of bishops. Salinas has written that some of the Peruvian clerics linked to the Sodalitium sought to attack and defame Prevost in retaliation for his role in the Sodalitium's dissolution by Pope Francis due to its sexual abuse scandals, as well as Prevost being near to Francis's political theology.