Pope Leo’s homily at Holy Mass and supplication to Our Lady of Pompeii
Piazza Bartolo Longo, in front of the Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin of the Holy Rosary of Pompeii
Friday, 8 May 2026
“My soul magnifies the Lord”.
Pope Leo’s Homily,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We responded to the First Reading with these words, which flowed from the heart of the Virgin Mary as she presented Elizabeth with the fruit of her womb: Jesus, the Savior.
After her, Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, and Simeon will sing praises to Christ.
These three canticles punctuate the Church’s daily praise in the Liturgy of the Hours.
They represent the vision of ancient Israel seeing its promises fulfilled, the vision of the Church as the bride reaching out to her divine bridegroom, and the vision of all humanity finding an answer to its yearning for salvation.
One hundred and fifty years ago, San Bartolo Longo and his wife, Countess Marianna Farnararo De Fusco, laid the first stone of this sanctuary. In doing so, they laid the foundation not only of a temple, but also of an entire Marian city.
This sanctuary was built in a place where the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD had buried the signs of a great civilization under ashes, protecting them for centuries.
He expressed his belief in God’s plan, which St. John Paul II relaunched for the Third Millennium during his visit to this place of grace on October 7, 2003, at the conclusion of the Year of the Rosary, in the context of the new evangelization.
He said, “Today, as in ancient Pompeii, it is necessary to proclaim Christ to a society that is moving away from Christian values and losing its memory.”
Exactly one year ago, on the day of the Supplication to the Virgin of the Holy Rosary of Pompeii, I was entrusted with the ministry of the Successor of Peter.
Therefore, I had to come here to place my service under the protection of the Blessed Virgin.
By choosing the name Leo, I follow in the footsteps of Leo XIII, who, among other merits, developed a broad magisterium on the Holy Rosary.
Additionally, St. Bartholomew Longo, apostle of the Rosary, was recently canonized.
This context gives us a way to reflect on the Word of God that we just heard.
The Gospel of the Annunciation introduces us to the moment when the Word of God became flesh in Mary’s womb.
From this womb, the Light that gives full meaning to history and the world radiates.
The angel Gabriel’s greeting to the Virgin is an invitation to rejoice: “Rejoice, full of grace” (Luke 1:28; cf. Zephaniah 3:14).
Indeed, the Hail Mary is an invitation to joy. It tells Mary, and through her, all of us, that amid the rubble of our sinful humanity, prone to prevarication, oppression, and war, God’s mercy has come in the form
of Jesus.
Mary thus becomes the Mother of Mercy.
As a disciple of the Word and an instrument of his incarnation, Mary truly reveals herself to be “full of grace.” Everything in her is grace!
By offering her flesh to the Word, she becomes a mother, as the Second Vatican Council teaches, in the footsteps of St. Augustine.
She is the mother of the members of Christ because she cooperated with charity in the birth of the faithful of the Church, who are the members of the Head.
With Mary’s “Here I am,” not only is Jesus born, but also the Church. Mary becomes Mother of God — Theotokos — and Mother of the Church.
What a great mystery!
Everything happens through the power of the Holy Spirit, who overshadows Mary and conceives a child in her virginal womb.
The sweetness and power of this moment in history attract the heart and bring it to a contemplative state in which the prayer of the Holy Rosary flourishes.
This prayer, which arose and developed progressively in the second millennium, has its roots in the history of salvation. It is precisely in the Angel’s greeting to the Virgin that it finds its prelude: “Hail Mary!” “Hail Mary!” Repeating this prayer in the rosary is like echoing Gabriel’s greeting.
This echo spans the centuries, guiding the believer’s gaze to Jesus as seen through the eyes and heart of the Mother.
We adore, contemplate, and assimilate Jesus in each of his mysteries, so that, like Saint Paul, we can say: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:19).
The Hail Mary repeated in the Holy Rosary is an act of love, preceded by the proclamation of the Word of God and set between the Our Father and the Gloria.
Isn’t “I love you” something we tirelessly repeat?
This act of love takes us back to Jesus and leads us to the Eucharist, “the source and summit of all Christian life” (Lumen Gentium, n. 11), as can be clearly seen in the Marian painting of this shrine.
St. Bartholomew Longo believed this when he wrote, “The Eucharist is the living Rosary, and all the mysteries are found in the Blessed Sacrament in an active and vital form” (The Rosary and the New Pompeii, 1914, p. 86).
He was right. In the Eucharist, the mysteries of Christ’s life are concentrated in the memorial of his sacrifice and his real presence.
The Rosary has a Marian character but a Christological and Eucharistic heart (cf. Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 1).
While the Liturgy of the Hours marks the times of the Church’s praise, the Rosary marks the rhythm of our lives, continually bringing us back to Jesus and the Eucharist.
Generations of believers have been shaped and preserved by this simple, popular prayer, which is capable of reaching mystical heights and contains a wealth of essential Christian theology.
What could be more essential than the mysteries of Christ and his holy name, pronounced with the tenderness of the Virgin Mary?
Only in this name can we be saved (cf. Acts 4:12).
By repeating it in every Hail Mary, we experience the house of Nazareth in some way, as if listening to the voices of Mary and Joseph during the years Jesus lived with them.
Let us also experience the Upper Room, where the apostles and Mary awaited the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit.
This is what the first reading pointed out to us. During the time between the Ascension and Pentecost, how can we not imagine Mary and the apostles recalling the different moments of Jesus’s life?
No detail should have been overlooked! Everything was to be remembered, assimilated, and imitated.
Thus, the contemplative journey of the Church was born, and the Rosary offers a daily meditation on the holy mysteries, much like the liturgical year.
The rosary has rightly been considered a compendium of the gospel. St. John Paul II wished to integrate the mysteries of light into it.
St. Bartholus Longo also emphasized this dimension, offering pilgrims profound meditations to prevent the Holy Rosary from becoming a mechanical recitation and ensuring it retained its biblical, Christological, and contemplative essence.
Sisters and brothers, if the Rosary is “prayed” and “celebrated” in this way, then it is also, by natural consequence, a source of charity.
Charity toward God and charity toward one’s neighbor are two sides of the same coin. The second reading, taken from the first letter of Saint John, reminds us of this, concluding with the exhortation: “Let us not love in word or tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 Jn 3:18).
Therefore, St. Bartholomew Longo was an apostle of the rosary and an apostle of charity.
In this Marian city, he welcomed orphans and children of prisoners, demonstrating the transformative power of love.
Even today, the Works of the Shrine welcome and care for the smallest and weakest.
As the Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae emphasized, the Rosary draws attention to the needs of the world, particularly two issues of pressing relevance: the family, affected by the weakening of the conjugal bond, and peace, threatened by international tensions and an economy that prioritizes the arms trade over respect for human life.
When St. John Paul II proclaimed the Year of the Rosary, which will be twenty-five years ago next year, he wanted to dedicate it to the Virgin of Pompeii in a special way.
Times have not improved since then.
The wars that are still being fought in many regions of the world call for renewed economic, political, spiritual, and religious commitments.
Peace begins in the heart.
In October 1986, the same pontiff gathered leaders of the world’s major religions in Assisi and invited everyone to pray for peace.
Both Pope Francis and I have repeatedly asked the faithful around the world to pray for peace.
We cannot resign ourselves to the daily images of death that we see on the news.
From this shrine, whose façade St. Bartolo Longo conceived as a monument to peace, we raise our supplication with faith today.
Jesus told us that all things can be achieved through faith-filled prayer (Matthew 21:22).
St. Bartholomew Longo, reflecting on Mary’s faith, calls her “omnipotent by grace.”
Through his intercession, may the God of peace pour out mercy that touches hearts, appeases resentment and fratricidal hatred, and enlightens those with special governmental responsibilities.
Brothers and sisters, no earthly power can save the world. Only the divine power of love can do that, and it is this power that Jesus, our Lord, revealed and gave to us.
We believe in him, hope in him, and follow him!
