Updated

Updated · Vatican News - English · Sep 7

Pope Leo XIV Celebrates Mass at Genazzano Basilica, Offering 3-Branch Golden Rose

Updated

Updated · Vatican News - English · Sep 7

Pope Leo XIV Celebrates Mass at Genazzano Basilica, Offering 3-Branch Golden Rose

Q: What hidden message lies behind the ancient Albanian miracle celebrated during Pope Leo XIV's recent shrine visit?

The “hidden message” behind the ancient Albanian miracle is a public call to spiritual discernment, unity, and continuity across borders. In the story celebrated at Genazzano, the icon of Our Lady of Good Counsel is said to have come miraculously from Shkodër, Albania, to Italy in 1467. Whether read devotionally or historically, the Church emphasizes what the image has come to mean: Mary guiding believers toward Christ in moments of uncertainty. That message was reinforced throughout Pope Leo XIV’s visit. Leo, an Augustinian, returned to a shrine deeply tied to the title “Mother of Good Counsel,” a Marian devotion centered not on spectacle but on wise judgment. The vestments recalling the Wedding at Cana made the same point symbolically: Mary’s role is to direct people to Jesus — “Do whatever he tells you.” The Albanian dimension adds another layer. By highlighting the icon’s link to Shkodër and welcoming Archbishop Giovanni Peragine from Albania, the celebration presented the shrine as a bridge between peoples and histories. For Albanian Catholics, who still honor Mary there as the “Lady of Albania,” the miracle expresses a faith that survives displacement and upheaval. In that sense, the deeper message is less about proving how the icon arrived than about what it has taught for centuries: in times of fear, migration, or major decisions, believers are invited to seek counsel, remain faithful, and let devotion become a source of reconciliation and shared identity.

3 articles · Updated · Vatican News - English · Sep 7

6 p.m. Monday, Pope Leo XIV is due to celebrate Mass at Genazzano’s Basilica of Our Lady of Good Counsel on the eve of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, returning as a pilgrim after a private visit there on 10 May 2025.
4:30 p.m. arrival plans show the devotional focus of the visit: Leo will travel by popemobile blessing faithful, then honor the Marian shrine he says has accompanied him throughout his life and to which he entrusted his pontificate.
A 5:30 p.m. unveiling will add Leo’s portrait to a chapel of popes linked to Genazzano, while the liturgy includes a 3-branch Golden Rose for the icon and an ex ossibus relic of Blessed Stefano Bellesini for the Pope.
Albania also features in the celebration, with Archbishop Giovanni Peragine concelebrating at a shrine whose image is traditionally said to have arrived from Shkodër in 1467 and remains revered by Albanian Catholics as the Lady of Albania.
For Genazzano’s church leaders, the visit is both local celebration and wider signal of unity with Rome, highlighting Leo’s Marian devotion and the Augustinian ties surrounding the basilica.