Carolina Bellocq
Pope Leo XIV will return to the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel, where he went to pray on May 10th, 2025, just two days after being elected pope. He will return on September 7th to preside over Mass on the eve of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The shrine is under the care of the Augustinian Fathers. Why is the pope returning there now?
The reason is still being kept under wraps, but will be fully revealed on the day of the visit.
The Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel houses a miraculous image that appeared mysteriously in 1467 in Albania.
Since then, devotion to the image has grown among Catholics, especially among the popes.
And in the chapel of the Virgin, frescoes commemorate these distinguished visits.
One depicts Pope Urban VII's pilgrimage in 1630, when he sought the Virgin Mary's help during the plague. Another portrays Pope Pius IX's visit in 1864, when he prayed to the Virgin for the First Vatican Council.
St. John XXIII went there to pray in 1959 and is depicted along with St. John Paul II. After the Polish pope visited in 1993, a fresco of that visit was added.
When Pope Leo XIV visits on September 7th, the surprise that the Augustinians have prepared for him will be unveiled: a fresco in that same chapel depicting the moment he entrusted his pontificate to the Virgin Mary.
The fresco was painted by Marco: a local artist. It took about two months to complete.
