Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Pope Leo XIV returned to a sanctuary in Italy on Monday where he had prayed just after his election, and unveiled a fresco showing him in prayer that has now been placed on an upper cornice of the basilica. He later celebrated Mass with his fellow Augustinian brothers at the Sanctuary of Our Mother of Good Counsel.
The visit marked a return to a place that holds special importance for the pope’s Augustinian order. Leo also joined a small group of earlier popes whose visits to the sanctuary have been marked with portraits on its walls, a tradition that dates back to Pope Urban VIII in 1630.
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Leo had first visited the sanctuary on May 10, 2025, two days after his election and during his first outing as pope. Before becoming pope, the former Robert Prevost had visited the site many times. The sanctuary, in the medieval village of Genazzano south of Rome, is run by Augustinian friars and has drawn pilgrims since the 15th century.
His namesake, Pope Leo XIII, had later raised the sanctuary to the status of a minor basilica and expanded the adjoining convent in the early 1900s. During his homily on Monday, which marked the birth of Mary, Leo recalled what he had written in the sanctuary’s guest book during his 2025 visit.
At the time, the new pope wrote that he felt the “need and profound desire” to come to the sanctuary after his election to pray before the Madonna of Good Counsel, “who has accompanied me all my life with her maternal presence, with her wisdom and example of love for her son who is always the centre of my faith”.
The visit came as Leo and the Vatican step up activity after the summer break. The Holy See’s autumn conferences and audiences are beginning to take shape, while Leo prepares for a trip to France later this month and a visit to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru in November.
Monday’s visit brought together the pope’s personal devotion to the sanctuary, its long Augustinian ties and the wider return of Vatican activity after the summer.
With PTI Inputs
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
