Pope Leo has made a surprise visit to the Shrine of Madonna of Good Counsel, outside Rome. It is an Augustinian Shrine……Pope Leo is an Augustinian and has a great devotion to the Mother of Good Counsel.
Here is the official press release from the Shrine:
“With great surprise Pope Leo XIV, our Augustinian confrere Fr. Robert Francis Prevost, presented himself this afternoon around 4 pm on a visit to the Shrine, to entrust his election and the entire Church to the Mother of Good Counsel.
Pope Leo has made a surprise visit to the Shrine of Madonna of Good Counsel, outside Rome. It is an Augustinian Shrine. Pope Leo has a great devotion to the Mother of Good Counsel. pic.twitter.com/R3wfLDlHRi
— Rich Raho (@RichRaho) May 10, 2025
As a cardinal on April 25, 2024, he had celebrated Mass in the Shrine on the occasion of the Feast of the “Venus” of the Mother of Good Counsel. In his homily, the then Cardinal Prevost expressed his devotion to the Virgin, exhorting the faithful to be inspired by Mary to spread peace and reconciliation in the world.
This afternoon Pope Leo arrived in a Volkswagen multivan, sitting in the front seat; he was greeted by a cheering crowd of hundreds of people gathered in the square or looking out by windows and balconies. Many shouted “Lion, Leo” and the nearby streets were gradually crowded. Entering the church, where he greeted the religious, the Pontiff stopped in prayer, first in front of the altar and then in front of the image of the Virgin. With those present he recited the prayer of John Paul II to the Mother of Good Counsel.
At the end, after the Hail Mary and the song of 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 that the Church has delivered to me, to carry out this mission as the Successor of Peter”. And recalling the visit made after the a prior election of the Order of St. Augustine, and the choice to “offer life to the Church,” Leo XIV reiterated his ‘trust in the Mother of the Good Counsel,’ the company of ‘light, wisdom’ with the words addressed by Mary to the servants on the day of the Wedding at Cana, reported in John’s Gospel: ‘Whatever he says to you, do it.’
What a moment of grace! Let us gather as a Church under the mantle of our Mother together with our Pontiff, and we strengthen prayer for him, for his mission for the universal Church, for the Church and for the whole world”
Pope Leo XIV wrote in the Shrine’s guestbook:
“Still in the first days of the pontificate, I felt the duty and a deep longing to approach Genazzano, the shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel, who, throughout my life, has accompanied me with her maternal presence, with her wisdom, and the example of her love for her son who is always the center of my faith. Way, truth and life. Thank you Mother, for your help – accompany me in this new mission”
Leo PP XIV
May 10, 2025
Check out our page on the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel.