Pope Leo XIV returns to the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Genazzano on Monday evening, to celebrate Mass on the eve of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and invite Christians to contemplate Mary's quiet presence and become servants of peace.
By Vatican News
“Let us allow peace to grow within us,” the Pope said during his homily as he presided over Mass at the Augustinian shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Good Counsel, “It will blossom in the world.”
Returning to the sanctuary in Genazzano, southeast of Rome, Pope Leo recalled that he had felt “a deep desire” to come there just days after his election to the papacy in May 2025. Mary, he said at the time, had accompanied him throughout his life “with her maternal presence, with her wisdom, and with the example of her love for her Son, the Son who is always at the center of my faith.”
Now, celebrating the Vigil of Mary's birth, he said he was once again entrusting to Mary “what is still born in this poor and magnificent humanity: fragile like a shoot, but a sign of God's faithfulness.”
Mary and the power of a quiet presence
The Pope's homily focused on the apparent paradox of Mary's place in salvation history: a woman whose life changed the course of history, yet whose presence in the Gospel is marked by simplicity and silence.
Reflecting on the writings of St Thomas of Villanova, the Augustinian friar and bishop, Pope Leo asked why the Evangelists provide so little detail about Mary's birth, childhood and daily life, despite her unique place in the story of salvation.
St Thomas himself wondered why the Evangelists had written at length about John the Baptist and the Apostles but had said so little about Mary. Pope Leo quoted his question: “Why, I ask, have you deprived us of such great joy by your silence?”
Yet, the Pope said that silence offers an important lesson for believers.
“We are, in fact, ‘fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God’,” he said, adding that Mary teaches an intelligence that “converses with God,” asks questions and treasures events by connecting them in her heart.
In Matthew's account, Mary does not speak in the passage proclaimed at the Mass. Yet her presence, together with the presence of Christ within her, is enough to change the course of events.
“The simple presence of Mary – and of the Son within her – moves the whole of history,” Pope Leo said.
Her presence changes Joseph's expectations, decisions and actions, he continued. “In Mary, salvation finds a home: God with us!”
God's way is 'simpler and quieter'
The Pope then reflected on the mystery celebrated in the feast of Mary's birth.
“It is impossible to become accustomed to it!” he said. A child is born who will become “the Mother of her Creator, the Mother of God who saves.”
And yet, he observed, Mary is born simply as a child, “like the daughters and granddaughters whom we hold in our arms.”
“We have noble and lofty titles for her, of Lady and Queen,” he said, “but God's way has been and remains simpler and quieter, yet no less powerful and transformative.”
The same path is revealed in Christ, he continued, noting that “In Jesus Christ, God chose the most humble historical circumstances and the humblest of creatures to manifest the originality of his Kingdom, in which arrogance has no place and omnipotence is creation, service and care for life.”
Not fantasy, but prophecy
Pope Leo then returned to St Thomas of Villanova's invitation to contemplate Mary inwardly, even though Scripture does not provide a detailed portrait of her life.
St Thomas wrote that the Holy Spirit did not describe Mary in Scripture but instead “waited for you to paint her inwardly,” the Pope recalled.
“In contemplative prayer, what the world does not tell us, but already exists, takes shape; what is still invisible, but already possesses a new kind of strength,” he explained, adding that, “This is not fantasy, but prophecy.”
Such prophetic vision, he added, is needed “in times of destruction and uncertainty,” so that Christians can recognize God's work and serve it.
“Let peace grow within us”
From Mary's hidden strength, Pope Leo turned to the need for peace. Recalling the prophet Micah's vision of Bethlehem as the birthplace of a king of peace, he highlighted the biblical promise, noting that the prayer of the day's liturgy asks that the celebration of Mary's birth increase peace within believers.
“Yes, we want to imagine peace – to broaden the boundaries of our understanding and paint it in our souls – in order to recognize that it already exists, to welcome it and to serve it,” he said.
Peace, he continued, is “the gift of God, the breath of the Risen One, the work of the Holy Spirit.”
“Let us allow peace to grow within us,” he said. “It will blossom in the world. And the Mother of Good Counsel will accompany us in this mission.”
A place close to Pope Leo's heart
Pope Leo has a longstanding connection with the shrine in Genazzano, which he first visited as a young student in Rome in the early 1980s and where he returned over the years as Prior General of the Augustinian Order, Bishop of Chiclayo and later Cardinal. His Augustinian Province of Chicago is itself dedicated to Our Lady of Good Counsel.
His first visit to the shrine as Pope came just two days after his election, on 10 May 2025. Before appearing on the central loggia of St Peter's Basilica on the day of his election, he had also prayed before an image of Our Lady of Good Counsel in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace.
The shrine itself has been entrusted to the Augustinians since the 14th century. According to tradition, on 25 April 1467, an image of the Virgin Mary appeared on a wall of the church while it was still under construction. Two Albanian pilgrims later recognized it as the image venerated in Shkodër, Albania, which had disappeared from its original location.
The image has attracted generations of pilgrims and several Popes, including Urban VIII, Pius IX, John XXIII and John Paul II. Following that tradition, a new painting depicting Pope Leo praying before Our Lady of Good Counsel was unveiled at the shrine during his September 7 visit.
