Pope Leo XIV traveled today to the Italian municipality of Genazzano to preside over a Eucharist at the Shrine of the Mother of Good Counsel, on the eve of the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The liturgy was marked by the inauguration of a painting depicting the pontiff in prayer before the image of the Virgin, integrating him into the tribute gallery to his predecessor pontiffs.
This official act follows a private visit made on May 10, 2025, which constituted Leo XIV's first surprise outing, just two days after his election to the See of Peter. At the time, the Pope told the Augustinian friars that he had greatly wished to go to the shrine in the first days of the new ministry that the Church entrusted to him.
In the message left in the shrine's guest book, the pontiff revealed that he felt the duty and a deep desire to approach this space of devotion, writing that the Virgin accompanied him throughout his entire life with her maternal presence, wisdom, and example of love for the Son, thanking her for her help and asking that she accompany him in the new mission.
The Marian shrine dates back to the 13th century, but gained its current configuration after April 25, 1467, when a reconstruction process recorded the miraculous appearance of an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The secular devotion was validated throughout the centuries with pilgrimages by Pope Urban VIII, Pope Pius IX, Pope John XXIII, and Pope John Paul II. Leo XIV's relationship with this place is explained by the fact that he joined the Order of Saint Augustine in the Augustinian province of Chicago, dedicated to the Mother of Good Counsel, in the early 1980s, maintaining frequent visits as a young student in Rome and throughout his entire ecclesiastical trajectory.
