Pope Leo XIV closed his first public blessing as pontiff with a Hail Mary, after invoking the feast day of Our Lady of Pompei. On his first papal trip, he went to the Sanctuary of Our Mother of Good Counsel in the medieval village of Genazzano and on the drive back stopped to pray by Pope Francis’ tomb in the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome.
That’s just three of a myriad Virgin Marys around the world, whose veneration is central to Catholics from the pope to the ordinary faithful. Even many of the less-than-devout know what it means to throw a Hail Mary.
