According to Vatican News, Pope Leo XIV will return to Genazzano on September 7 to celebrate Mass at the Basílica Santuário da Mãe do Bom Conselho ahead of the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The upcoming visit to the Augustinian sanctuary, located about forty kilometers from Rome, follows the Pontiff’s private pilgrimage on May 10, 2025, just two days after his election to the Chair of Saint Peter.
The First Papal Visit and Augustinian Ties
During his first visit to the sanctuary as Pope on May 10, 2025, Leo XIV shared personal reflections with the Augustinian friars and faithful gathered outside the basilica. “I greatly desired to come here in these first days of the new ministry that the Church has entrusted to me, to carry forward the mission as the Successor of Peter,” Leo XIV said, according to Vatican News. In the sanctuary’s guestbook, the Pope noted that he felt a deep desire to approach the shrine because the Madonna had accompanied him throughout his life with maternal presence and love for her Son. Leo XIV belongs to the Order of Saint Augustine, having entered through the Chicago Augustinian province dedicated to the Mother of Good Counsel.
Did you know? Before his election, Prevost visited the Genazzano sanctuary frequently as a student, prior general, bishop of Chiclayo, and cardinal, making his final pre-papal visit there on April 25, 2024.
History and Miraculous Origins of the Sanctuary
The shrine’s history dates back to the thirteenth century when a small church of Saint Mary stood on the site, later entrusted to Augustinian religious by the Colonna family in 1356, as reported by Vatican News. A local tertiary widow named Petruccia funded the early fifteenth-century expansion by selling her belongings, famously declaring that the Blessed Virgin and Saint Augustine would complete the project despite local mockery. On April 25, 1467, an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary miraculously appeared on a wall of the construction site. Pilgrims from Albania later identified the image as one that had detached from a venerated site in Shkodër.
New Commemorative Painting Unveiled
To mark the September 7 visit at 18:00 local time, the sanctuary will inaugurate a new painting depicting Pope Leo XIV in prayer before the image of the Virgin. This artwork will join portraits commemorating his papal predecessors who also made pilgrimages to the site. Vatican News notes that on the day of his election, May 8, 2025, Leo XIV prayed before an image of the Mother of Good Counsel in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace before stepping onto the Central Loggia of Saint Peter’s Basilica.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is Pope Leo XIV visiting Genazzano?
Pope Leo XIV will visit the sanctuary on September 7 to celebrate Mass on the eve of the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
What is the historical significance of the Genazzano sanctuary?
The Basílica Santuário da Mãe do Bom Conselho has been entrusted to the Augustinians since the fourteenth century and became a major pilgrimage site following the miraculous appearance of the Marian image in 1467.
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