Pope Leo Leo unveiled the portrait before celebrating Mass with his Augustinian brothers at the Sanctuary of Our Mother of Good Counsel in the medieval town of Genazzano, south of Rome. He joins a handful of previous popes whose visits to the shrine were commemorated with portraits adorning its walls, dating back to Pope Urban VIII in 1630. Leo visited the shrine on May 10, 2025, just two days after his election and on his first outing as pope. The former Robert Prevost had been there many times before, as the place has special significance to the Pope’s Augustinian religious order. The sanctuary is managed by Augustinian friars and has been a place of pilgrimage since the 15th century. León’s namesake, Pope Leo XIII, elevated it to a minor basilica and expanded the adjacent convent in the early 20th century. Pope Leo XIV receives a box of butterflies as he arrives at the Basilica Sanctuary of the Mother of Good Counsel in Genazzano, central Italy, Monday, Sept. 7, 2026. AP Photo/Andrew Medichini Leo referred to that 2025 excursion during his homily at the basilica on Monday, which commemorates the birth of Mary. León remembered what he wrote then in the sanctuary’s guest book. The new Pope then wrote that he felt the “need and deep desire” to come to the sanctuary after his election to pray before the Virgin of Good Counsel, “who has accompanied me all my life with her maternal presence, with her wisdom and her example of love for her son, who is always the center of my faith.” The Holy See’s normally busy fall conferences and audiences are taking shape, and Leo is preparing for a trip to France at the end of the month and his long-awaited trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru in November. Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass at the Basilica Sanctuary of the Mother of Good Counsel in Genazzano, central Italy, Monday, Sept. 7, 2026. AP Photo/Andrew Medichini Pope Leo
