Pope Leo XIV marked his first year as Pope by making a pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Pompeii and placing his pontificate under the protection of the Virgin Mary. Source: OSV News.
“Exactly one year ago, when I was entrusted with the ministry of the Successor of Peter, it was precisely the day of the Supplication to the Virgin, this beautiful feast of the Supplication to the Virgin of the Holy Rosary of Pompeii,” the Pope said in his homily at a Mass on Friday, May 8, before an estimated 20,000 people gathered in the piazza in front of the basilica.
“I therefore had to come here to place my ministry under the protection of the Blessed Virgin,” he said.
The pilgrimage brought Pope Leo XIV full circle: On May 8, 2025, moments after his election, the newly chosen Pope led the crowd from the loggia in St Peter’s Basilica in praying a Hail Mary on what happened to be the feast of Our Lady of Pompeii.
Now, a year later, the Pope began his homily with words echoing Mary’s Magnificat: “My soul magnifies the Lord!”
“Brothers and sisters, no earthly power will save the world, but only the divine power of love, this divine power of love that Jesus, the Lord, has revealed to us and given us. Let us believe in Him, let us hope in Him, and let us follow Him,” Pope Leo said in Pompeii.
The first pope born in the United States had a busy first year. He presided over more than 65 public Masses, the canonisation of nine saints, apostolic journeys across three continents, audiences with many world leaders, and led the Catholic Church in the celebration of the historic Jubilee of Hope.
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‘My soul magnifies the Lord!’: Pope Leo marks anniversary of election at Marian shrine in Pompeii (By Courtney Mares, OSV News)
