Pope marks election anniversary with Pompeii shrine visit

Pope Leo XIV spent the first anniversary of his election on Friday by praying in the ancient city of Pompeii, commemorating a Marian feast day that is particularly important to him, which coincided with the start of his pontificate.

Leo travelled by helicopter to Pompeii, near Naples, for a daylong visit to mark the May 8 feast of Our Lady of Pompeii. The date marks the day in 1876 when the cornerstone for a shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Pompeii was laid.

The sanctuary is located near the excavations of the city that was buried in AD 79, when Mount Vesuvius erupted and spewed volcanic ash and gas across the region. While the Pompeii archaeological site draws millions of tourists each year, the sanctuary attracts Catholic pilgrims who are particularly devoted to praying the rosary.

“What a beautiful day, how many blessings the Lord wanted to give to all of us,” Leo told throngs of faithful inside the sanctuary before Mass. “I feel I am the first blessed to be able to come here to the sanctuary of the Madonna on the day of her feast and on this anniversary.”

The visit kicked off a series of day trips that Leo will be making over the next few weeks, up and down the Italian peninsula, as he gets to know better the Italian church of which he is the symbolic head as bishop of Rome.