Pope Leo announces where he will spend his 1st anniversary

Pope Leo XIV will make a series of visits within Italy in the coming months and one of them will mark his first anniversary as Successor of Peter.

The Holy See Press Office announced the papal trips on February 19, 2026.

The Pontiff will begin his series of pastoral visits on the peninsula with two stops in the Campania region, south of Rome. On May 8, exactly one year after his election, Leo XIV will first visit Our Lady of the Rosary in Pompeii. His election anniversary is her feast day.

While the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is October 7, the feast of Our Lady of Pompeii, where she is also venerated as Our Lady of the Rosary, is May 8. He noted the feast in his first address as pope.

This pontifical shrine, a major center of Marian spirituality much loved by popes, was founded by the Italian saint Bartolo Longo (1841-1926), whom Leo XIV canonized on October 19 last year. After a radical conversion, this former practitioner of occult practices devoted his life to spreading devotion to the Rosary, founding this place of pilgrimage and launching in 1883 the “Supplication” to the Virgin Mary, a prayer recited at midday every May 8 and every first Sunday in October throughout the world (the October day falls near St. Bartolo’s feast day.)

During his visit of a few hours, Leo XIV will pray the “Supplication” and have lunch on site. Several of Leo XIV’s predecessors have visited Pompeii: Pope Francis went there in 2015, Benedict XVI in 2008, and John Paul II in 1979 and 2003.

After this, the Pope will travel to Naples in the afternoon, about 30 kilometers (less than 19 miles) south of Pompeii. He will visit the cathedral, where he will meet with priests and religious from the diocese led by Cardinal Domenico Battaglia. In Piazza del Plebiscito, he will then meet with the Neapolitan people.

Just over two weeks later, on Saturday, May 23, the Bishop of Rome will travel to Acerra. Also located in Campania, this city is known for being at the heart of the “Land of Fires,” an area severely polluted by the illegal burial and incineration of toxic waste orchestrated by organized crime. This phenomenon has caused multiple health consequences for the local population.

Pope Francis had wanted to visit Acerra on May 24, 2020, to mark the fifth anniversary of the publication of Laudato si’. However, this plan was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

On Saturday, June 20, Leo XIV will be in Pavia, Lombardy, in northern Italy. Since the 8th century, the city has been home to the remains of St. Augustine in the Basilica of San Pietro in Ciel d’Oro. This visit is undoubtedly an exciting one for Leo, as the Bishop of Hippo is the spiritual mentor of the pontiff, who himself belongs to the Order of St. Augustine.

In recent decades, this city has already received visits from pontiffs: Pope John Paul II came to Pavia in 1984 and Pope Benedict XVI in 2007. In fact, during Benedict’s visit, Robert Prevost, then Prior General of the Augustinians, welcomed the German pope.

On July 4, Independence Day in Leo’s native United States (and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence this year) Leo XIV will visit Lampedusa.

The trip comes 13 years (almost to the day) after Pope Francis made his first pastoral visit outside Rome to this island off the coast of Tunisia and Libya on July 8, 2013. This territory, which officially has only about 6,000 inhabitants, has become a symbol of the migration crisis since the early 1990s, with an intense flow of migrants from Africa and the Middle East who have repeatedly overwhelmed its reception capacity.

Many tragedies have occurred there, notably on October 3, 2013, when the sinking of an overloaded boat caused the deaths of more than 300 migrants among the 500 who were on board. This has continued to our own day, with two infants drowning in the same waters just a few weeks ago.

A few months earlier, during his visit to the island, Pope Francis had called for a fight against the “globalization of indifference,” making his advocacy for migrants a central theme of his pontificate.

On the morning of August 6, Pope Leo will take part in a meeting with young Europeans and celebrate Mass in Assisi during this jubilee for the 800th anniversary of the death of St Francis of Assisi, who died October 3, 1226. To mark this anniversary, the saint’s remains are on display in the basilica that bears his name in the Umbrian city from February 22 to March 22. In a message published on January 10, Leo XIV emphasized the relevance of the Italian saint’s testimony, for whom peace “encompasses all creation.”

Located just over 150 km north of Rome (93 miles), Assisi is a regular destination for popes: Leo XIV already visited the city on November 20 last year to close the general assembly of the Italian Episcopal Conference. His predecessor, who chose the name Francis in homage to the saint of Assisi, visited the Umbrian city six times during his pontificate.

On the afternoon of August 22, the Pope will participate in the 47th Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples in Rimini, a seaside town in Emilia-Romagna on the Adriatic coast, and then celebrate Mass with the faithful of the diocese. Organised by the Italian Catholic movement Communion and Liberation since 1980, this meeting is a very important event in Italy and welcomes significant figures from Italian civil society every year. John Paul II also participated in this Meeting in August 1982.

With these trips, Leo XIV will make seven stops in Italy in the coming months. Before him, his predecessor Pope Francis made 39 pastoral trips in Italy, visiting Florence, Venice, Naples, Milan and Turin, among other places, during his 12-year pontificate.