PAVIA, Italy (OSV News) — Pope Leo XIV knelt in prayer at the tomb of St. Augustine June 20, returning to the basilica where he once guided the late Pope Benedict XVI as the leader of the Augustinian order, only this time as the first Augustinian pope in history.
The visit to the Basilica of San Pietro in Ciel d’Oro was a highlight of the pope’s daylong pastoral visit to the northern Italian city of Pavia, where St. Augustine’s remains have rested since the 8th century.
As Pope Leo entered the basilica’s cloister, he told the gathered Augustinians that he recognized many familiar faces among them.
“St. Augustine teaches us to live out what Jesus Christ taught us: to love God and to love our brothers and sisters,” the pope said in off-the-cuff remarks before entering the basilica.
“Charity toward everyone today is a message from St. Augustine and from Jesus Christ that is very important for the world,” he added. “May we all truly be this sign of love and charity in the world. May we know how to live out forgiveness, reconciliation, and peace.”
Inside the basilica, bishops, priests, religious sisters, seminarians and lay faithful from across the northern Italian region of Lombardy awaited the pope’s arrival. Local authorities estimated that 1,800 people gathered in and around the centuries-old basilica.
Speaking Christ to the world’s restless heart
After processing into the basilica with fellow members of the Augustinian Order, Pope Leo knelt in prayer in front of the final resting place of the fifth-century bishop and theologian behind the religious order that shaped his own vocation.
“The figure of St. Augustine shines with a precious light,” the pope said, citing St. Augustine’s own words, “Do not go outside yourself; return to within yourself; truth dwells in the inner man.”
That inward turn, the pope said, speaks directly to a restlessness in the world today, particularly among the young.
“The need to return to oneself, to avoid being scattered by external fragmentation, to seek and find a meaning that guides our lives and animates our relationships, is a need shared by all,” he said. “Today it resurfaces in various ways even amid the haste and distraction of daily life, especially in the questions posed by the youngest among us.”
“At a time when many people seem to have lost their spiritual appetite or, for various reasons, no longer find the Christian faith appealing for their lives, we are called first and foremost to proclaim the Gospel — a joyful and liberating message of Jesus Christ — that brings out the beauty of faith for our lives and for our society,” he said.
The pope urged those present to accompany others toward faith by keeping Jesus at the center of their witness. “We must proclaim the heart of the Gospel — that is, Jesus — who, through his incarnation, death, and resurrection, reveals to us the mystery of God and, at the same time, the mystery that is ourselves,” he said.
How did St. Augustine’s relics end up in Pavia?
St. Augustine’s relics were brought to Pavia around the year 720. According to the Venerable Bede, after St. Augustine’s death in 430 in Hippo Regius, in present-day Algeria, his remains were later transferred to Cagliari, Sardinia, before being acquired and brought to Pavia by the bishop who was an uncle of the Lombard King Liutprand.
Pavia served as the capital city of the Kingdom of the Lombards and later of the medieval Kingdom of Italy. It is home to one of Europe’s oldest universities. The Romanesque basilica in Pavia, consecrated by Pope Innocent II in 1132, is also the resting place of the sixth-century philosopher Boethius.
“Pavia for us is a special place for our identity as Augustinians and our mission to bring Augustine to the world,” Father Alexander Lam, a Peruvian Augustinian friar who serves as the order’s vicar general, told OSV News.
“It is a beautiful experience to be here to share with our friars, our brothers in the order, to be part of this pilgrimage,” he said, adding, “It is not only a visit, it is a symbol of (Pope Leo’s) spirituality.”
Basilica connects Pope Leo and Pope Benedict
For Pope Leo, the basilica holds personal significance. As prior general of the Order of St. Augustine, he once accompanied Pope Benedict to the same tomb for the last papal visit to Pavia in 2007.
Father Joseph L. Farrell, prior general of the Augustinians, welcomed the pope to the basilica speaking about the significance of St. Augustine before adding, “If these words sound familiar to you, it is because they were the ones you, as prior general of the Order of St. Augustine, addressed to Pope Benedict XVI on April 22, 2007, during his pastoral visit to Pavia and to this basilica. Here we are, 19 years later.”
Msgr. Daniele Baldi, vicar general of the Diocese of Pavia, said the pope’s arrival carried particular weight for the local church.
“It’s something extraordinary and beautiful,” Msgr. Baldi told OSV News. “He comes to strengthen our faith, to speak to us, and to support us in our commitment to peace and unity — it’s a beautiful thing.”
“He’s coming to Pavia, where the remains of St. Augustine are kept; he is a son of St. Augustine, and our city is one that is committed to the search for truth,” he added. “And St. Augustine teaches us just how important and relevant this quest is, and he also gives us all the concrete, specific ways to put it into practice.”
Pope Leo meets cancer patients in Pavia
Pope Leo traveled by helicopter from Vatican City to Pavia, arriving after 2:30 p.m. He began his visit with a stop at the National Center for Oncological Hadrontherapy, where he met children undergoing cancer treatment and prayed the Lord’s Prayer with them.
“God does not want anyone to suffer,” he told the families, adding that God “will always be present; even when we are too weak, he sends us angels.”
The pope also spent time greeting people with physical and intellectual disabilities, who waited for the pope outside of the basilica after his prayer at St. Augustine’s tomb. Among them was Luca, 21, who told OSV News that he likes Pope Leo because he is a “friendly guy.”
A special greeting for Peruvians
The pope then proceeded in the popemobile to Pavia’s cathedral, where an estimated 1,500 people, including the local South American community, gathered to welcome him.
“Greetings to the Peruvians, to all Latin Americans. A big hello to all of you!” Pope Leo said in front of the cathedral.
“We all want to live in peace. It’s very important that we never lose hope, because as St. Augustine told us, ‘If we want to change the times, if we want the world to live in peace, we must begin with ourselves,’” the pope said.
Pope Leo also had a message for young people in the crowd. “Persevere, get involved, and strive to build authentic friendships — not just friendships through a screen or a cell phone,” the pope said.
Among those waiting in the piazza was Abiel Muriel, 62, who moved to Pavia from Barranquilla, Colombia, and now lives near the cathedral. He said the pope’s visit, so close to his home, would be a blessing he carries for the rest of his life. Maria Victoria, also from Colombia and now living in Pavia, said she wished her mother, a devout Catholic who has Alzheimer’s disease and could not attend, could have shared her joy of seeing the pope in person.
Sister Rocio, a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Divine Providence from Lima, Peru, serves in another city in northern Italy, but she told OSV News that as soon as she heard that Pope Leo was coming, she said, “Count me in.”
After praying inside the cathedral, Pope Leo walked to the nearby Piazza Vittoria, where an estimated 3,500 people gathered to hear him speak, despite the sweltering heat of more than 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
“St. Augustine’s soul was filled with this thirst; he is an example of the healthy restlessness that stirs within those who seek, those who study, and those who educate,” Pope Leo told the crowd, which included students from the University of Pavia, a university founded in 1361.
Pope Leo departs for Mother Cabrini’s hometown
In the evening, Pope Leo traveled via helicopter from Pavia to Sant’Angelo Lodigiano, the hometown of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, to venerate the heart of the first U.S. citizen to be canonized. Mother Cabrini was born in northern Italy, but was sent as a missionary to the United States, where she became a naturalized citizen.
“Today the experience we had welcoming Pope Leo here was very beautiful,” Gidelvyn Pena told OSV News as the 10-year-old waited to wave goodbye to the pope in Pavia. “It is not something you do everyday.”
Courtney Mares is Vatican editor for OSV News. Follow her on X @catholicourtney.
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