A Marian Pope

Before giving his first blessing Urbi et Orbi from the Loggia of Blessings of St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Leo XIV greeted the faithful and concluded with these words, “Our Mother Mary always wants to walk at our side, to remain close to us, to help us with her intercession and her love.’ 3 days later, at his first Regina Caeli on Sunday, Leo XIV ended his remarks by again referring to our Blessed Mother, seeking her intercession: “May the Virgin Mary, whose entire life was a response to the Lord’s call, always accompany us in following Jesus.” He then concluded by not reciting, but beautifully singing, the Regina Caeli. There is no doubt that our new Pope is Marian Pope. The day he was elected was a day that the Augustinian order remembers Mary in her title of Our Lady of Grace. While the order venerates the Blessed Mother under several titles, this one is the oldest, dating to the 13th century. Yet on May 8 in his first welcome, he told the thousands gathered in the square beneath him “Today is the day of the Prayer of Supplication to Our Lady of Pompeii.” And since at least the 15th century, Augustinians have had devotion to Our Lady of Good Counsel. In 1467, as they were renovating a village church, a miraculous image of Our Lady and the Child Jesus appeared on a wall. The image was named after the title of the parish church: Our Lady of Good Counsel. So it was fitting that, on the first Saturday (the day dedicated to Mary) of his papacy, Leo XIV went to pray at the Sanctuary of the Madre del Buon Consiglio (Mother of Good Counsel) in Genazzano, near Rome. Pope Leo XIV’s predecessor Leo XIII also had a strong devotion to Mary. He has the record for the number of encyclicals on the Holy Rosary — 12 in all. And in 1883 he declared the feast of Queen of the Holy Rosary. I have no doubt that one of these years we’ll see an encyclical form Leo XIV on the Blessed Mother, as I believe the last one was Redemptoris Mater by Pope John Paul II, issued in 1987.