Pope Leo XIV visited the Marian shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel yesterday, where he asked the Virgin Mary for aid to bring God’s word to light through “courageous and wise decisions”. Source: OSV News.
The Pope travelled to Genazzano, a small town about 56 kilometres east of Rome, to celebrate an evening Mass at the Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel on the vigil of the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The visit was the second he has made to the basilica since becoming pope.
Pope Leo recalled how he previously made a surprise visit to the shrine just days after his election in the May 2025 conclave to pray before the image of the Virgin Mary to whom he has long been devoted.
“As you may remember, ‘in the early days of my pontificate, I felt the duty and a deep desire to visit Genazzano, the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel, who has accompanied me throughout my life with her maternal presence, her wisdom and the example of her love for her Son, who is always the centre of my faith’,” the Pope said at the start of his homily, quoting words he wrote in the shrine’s guest book on his first visit.
Reflecting on the birth of the Virgin Mary, which the Church celebrates today, the Pope said that “Mary is the dawn of a new day, of our world finally freed from evil.”
“Let us ask her for her Good Counsel, so that we may welcome the divine Word, keep it within us, and bring it to light through courageous and wise decisions, decisions of authentic conversion,” he said.
The shrine, entrusted to the Augustinians since the 14th century, holds special significance for Pope Leo, who visited many times prior to his election as pope.
The Augustinian Province of Chicago, where then-Robert Prevost entered religious life, was dedicated to Our Lady of Good Counsel, and he has visited the Genazzano sanctuary for decades since his first visit while studying in Rome in the early 1980s.
Before Mass, a new fresco on the wall of the basilica was unveiled depicting the current Augustinian pope kneeling before the Marian image.
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Pope Leo XIV asks Our Lady of Good Counsel for aid to make ‘courageous and wise decisions’ (By Courtney Mares, OSV News)
