Pope Leo XIV prays before the icon of Mary of Good Counsel in Genazzano, Italy, on May 10, 2025.
Newsdesk (11/05/2025 18:45, Gaudium Press) In his first outing as pope, Leo XIV made an unannounced visit to a shrine dedicated to Saint Augustine in a small town outside of Rome, where he prayed before a famed icon housed there and met with members of the Augustinian order.
In a May 10 statement, the Vatican said that shortly after 4p.m. that day, “Pope Leo XIV visited the Shrine of the Mother of Good Counsel in Genazzano for a private visit.”
The shrine, run by the religious order of Saint Augustine, is home to an ancient image of the Virgin Mary, “dear to the order and to the memory of Leo XIII,” whose encyclical Rerum Novarum helped inspire Leo XIV’s choice in name.
Genazzano is located roughly an hour outside of Rome and overseen by the Augustinians, the same order to which Leo XIV belongs.
According to the Vatican, the pope received “a festive welcome” by around 100 people who gathered in the square in front of the shrine to greet him upon his arrival in a black SUV.
Many shouted “Leo, Leo” and the nearby streets filled up. Entering the church, where he greeted the Augustinian religious, the Pope stopped to pray, first in front of the altar and then in front of the image of the Virgin. With those present, he recited John Paul II’s prayer to the Mother of Good Counsel.
At the end, after saying a Hail Mary and singing the Salve Regina, the Pope addressed those who were in the church, greeting them and the people of Genazzano gathered outside: ‘I wanted so much to come here in these first days of the new Ministry of carrying out the mission of Successor of Peter that the Church has entrusted to me.’
And, recalling the visit he made after his election as Prior General of the Order of St. Augustine, and his choice to ‘offer his life to the Church’, Leo XIV reiterated his ‘trust in the Mother of Good Counsel’, quoting the words addressed by Mary to the servants at the Wedding at Cana: ‘Whatever she tells you, do it’.
The Pope then held a private meeting with the Augustinian community.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Crux Now and Vatican News
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