POMPEII, Italy — Pope Leo XIV spent the first anniversary of his election Friday by praying within the historic metropolis of Pompeii, commemorating a Marian feast day that’s significantly necessary to him that coincided with the start of his pontificate.
Leo traveled by helicopter to Pompeii, close to Naples, for a daylong go to to mark the Might 8 feast of Our Girl of Pompeii. The date marks the day in 1876, when the cornerstone for a shrine devoted to the Virgin Mary in Pompeii was laid.
The sanctuary is situated close to the excavations of the city that was buried in A.D. 79, when Mount Vesuvius erupted and spewed volcanic ash and gasoline throughout the area. Whereas the Pompeii archaeological website attracts thousands and thousands of vacationers every year, the sanctuary attracts Catholic pilgrims who’re significantly dedicated to praying the rosary.
“What a wonderful day, what number of blessings the Lord wished to provide to all of us,” Leo informed throngs of devoted contained in the sanctuary earlier than Mass. “I really feel I’m the primary blessed to have the ability to come right here to the sanctuary of the Madonna on the day of her feast and on this anniversary.”
The go to kicked off a sequence of day journeys that Leo might be making over the subsequent few weeks, up and down the Italian peninsula, as he will get to know higher the Italian church of which he’s the symbolic head as bishop of Rome.
Friday marked the anniversary of the election of the former Robert Prevost as historical past’s first U.S.-born pope. Leo had referred to the Pompeii feast day on the night time of his election, when he emerged on the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica and was launched to the world. That night time, he led the devoted within the piazza beneath in a prayer for his preach.
He stated then that Mary, the mom of Christ, “all the time desires to stroll at our aspect, to stay near us, to assist us along with her intercession and her love.”
“Allow us to pray collectively for this new mission, for the entire church, for peace on the earth, and allow us to ask Mary, our Mom, for this particular grace,” Leo stated then.
The Pompeii sanctuary is intently related to the determine of St. Bartolo Longo, who based the basilica and is honored particularly in Italy for his charitable works for orphans, prisoners and different marginalized folks. Pope Francis had permitted the miracle crucial for Longo’s canonization from his hospital room, only a few weeks earlier than he died, and Leo made him a saint in October.
Leo opened his go to to Pompeii by assembly with sick and disabled people who find themselves cared for by a charity heart affiliated with the sanctuary, which Leo’s namesake, Pope Leo XIII, declared a pontifical basilica in 1901.
In his opening remarks, Leo recalled that when Longo arrived within the Pompeii valley, “he discovered a land stricken by nice poverty, inhabited by a couple of very poor farmers, and ravaged by malaria and bandits.”
“He was capable of see, nonetheless, the face of Christ in everybody: within the nice and the small, and particularly within the orphans and the kids of prisoners, to whom he made the beating of God’s coronary heart felt via his tenderness,” he stated.
Leo was met by throngs of cheering Italians, a few of whom had been ready because the nighttime to greet him. They appeared keenly conscious of Leo’s recent sparring with U.S. President Donald Trump over the Iran battle, and stated they preferred what they noticed.
“He would not let anybody intimidate him. Take a look at the current points with Trump,” stated Rita Borriello, from close by Torre del Greco. Trump criticized him, however Leo “merely answered, ‘I preach the Gospel’. I see him as a really humble pope, very near us, a pope who entered in our hearts.”
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Winfield reported from Rome.
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