ROME – In his first outing as pope, Leo XIV made an unannounced visit to a shrine dedicated to Saint Augustine in a small town outside of Rome, where he prayed before a famed icon housed there and met with members of the Augustinian order.

In a May 10 statement, the Vatican said that shortly after 4p.m. that day, “Pope Leo XIV visited the Shrine of the Mother of Good Counsel in Genazzano for a private visit.”

The shrine, run by the religious order of Saint Augustine, is home to an ancient image of the Virgin Mary, “dear to the order and to the memory of Leo XIII,” whose encyclical Rerum Novarum helped inspire Leo XIV’s choice in name.

Genazzano is located roughly an hour outside of Rome and overseen by the Augustinians, the same order to which Leo XIV belongs.

According to the Vatican, the pope received “a festive welcome” by around 100 people who gathered in the square in front of the shrine to greet him upon his arrival in a black SUV.

Leo after pulling up entered the church and greeted members of the Augustinian order residing there, and paused in prayer, first in front of the main altar and then in front of the icon of the Mother of Good Counsel.

He then recited together with those present Pope John Paul II’s prayer to the Mother of Good Counsel, and led those present in reciting the Hail Mary and the Salve Regina.

Afterward, he spoke to those present and those gathered outside, saying, “I wanted so much to come here in these first days of the new ministry that the Church has given me, to carry forward this mission as the Successor of Peter.”

He recalled a visit he made there after his election as prior general of the Order of Saint Augustine, and the choice he made to “offer his life to the Church.”

The pope then reiterated his “trust in the mother of Good Counsel,” a companion of “light, wisdom,” and repeated the words by Mary told the servants on the day of the Wedding at Cana, “do whatever he tells you.”

Leo then went to an internal room for a private meeting with members of the Augustinian community there.

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