The Pope celebrates Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Genazzano
ROME — It was shortly after 5 p.m. local time when Pope Leo XIV arrived at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel, awaited by thousands of people along the road and welcomed by his fellow Augustinians.
Not everyone could fit inside the church, and the streets of Genazzano, about 30 miles east of Rome, were packed. The Pope chose to celebrate the Nativity of Mary at this shrine so dear to his heart. He brought a Golden Rose to place at Mary’s feet, and the rector thanked him, saying, “Our affection for you is true and genuine,” because “we all love you immensely.”
The maternal presence of Our Lady of Good Counsel, the pope said, had “accompanied me throughout my entire life, with her wisdom, and with the example of her love for her Son, the Son who is always at the center of my faith,” as he wrote in the shrine’s guest book on May 10, 2025.
The Pope quoted the Augustinian St. Thomas of Villanova, who asked the Evangelists:
“Why, I wonder, were we not told about the manner of
