This story has been updated.
By Gary Gately
Pope Leo XIV became the first pontiff in history to cross Lake Albano during the annual Feast of Our Lady of the Lake boat procession Saturday evening in Castel Gandolfo, the summer retreat of popes for the past four centuries.
Aboard the Falco, accompanied by a statue of the Virgin Mary, Leo led about a dozen other boats — along with the faithful in kayaks, jet skis and pedal boats — on the 25-minute crossing of Lake Albano.
As the sun set over the lake, the leader of the 1.4 billion-member Catholic Church stepped ashore to applause and shouts of “Long live the pope!” among a crowd of pilgrims at Giorgio’s Beach below the Apostolic Palace at Castel Gandolfo. Heavenly sounds filled the night air as tenor Aurelio Grimaldi and his wife, Elena Kovalova, performed La Vergine degli Angeli (“The Virgin of the Angels”) from Verdi’s La forza del destino (“The Force of Destiny”).
The crowd fell silent as the 70-year-old Leo addressed the Blessed Mother “with a filial heart,” beseeching her intervention to help the Church be “courageous in proclaiming the Gospel, humble in service and persevering in charity.”
“To your loving protection,” the pope prayed, “we entrust all the peoples of the Earth. Look with kindness upon your children wounded by war and encourage in everyone the desire for peace. Where hatred grows, teach us forgiveness; where fear prevails, restore hope.”
Before boarding the boat at Tropicana Beach, Leo led the faithful in a procession behind the statue of Our Lady of the Lake, carried through the streets to the lake on a platform surrounded by yellow and white flowers.
Leo is not the first pope to mark the Feast of Our Lady of the Lake. Pope Saint Paul VI participated in the annual procession in August 1977 on the same day he consecrated the Church of Mary Most Holy of the Lake. In 1979, Pope Saint John Paul II also participated in the Castel Gandolfo procession. But neither pope crossed Lake Albano in the boat procession.
“Hatred and violence lead to nothing good, but only to destruction and death”
Earlier, delivering his homily during the outdoor Mass at the Church of Mary Most Holy of the Lake, Leo noted that its fan-shaped structure evokes the planks of a boat pointed toward a cross above the water.
He recalled the Gospel passage in which Jesus walks on the waters of the Sea of Galilee during a raging storm that terrified his disciples.
“Precisely when they were most frightened, at the mercy of contrary winds,” Leo said, the Lord “urged them to have faith, to pray, so that they might find peace and, together with Him, continue sailing toward the desired destination.”
Leo also warned the faithful that “hatred and violence lead to nothing good, but only to destruction and death, always — even when they are a response to injustices suffered.”
“We are in such need of life, hope, serenity and peace — within ourselves, in our cities and among people and nations,” the first U.S.-born pope said. “For this reason, whatever the wound, whatever the offense, let us not allow evil to disfigure our humanity or corrupt our hearts. Let us not conform to the mindset of this world and not get discouraged. Let us continue to love, to give and to forgive, offering ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, so that we may preserve and nurture — in ourselves and in others — the infinite dignity of the divine image we bear in our souls.”
Without naming any world leaders or specific conflicts, Leo said: “Unfortunately, not everyone understands the beauty, goodness and concreteness of this dream of the Creator; indeed, many think it is a utopia. Turning the other cheek, they say, is for losers; giving in the face of rejection is for the naïve; forgiving without limits is for the weak. Even Peter found it difficult to accept this new and different way of thinking. But Jesus remains unequivocal: Only the way of love is the way of life.”
Bishop Vincenzo Viva of the Diocese of Albano, along with Father Tadeusz Rozmus, the parish priest of Saint Thomas of Villanova in Castel Gandolfo, and two Salesian priests concelebrated the Mass. It came a century after Pope Pius XI called the Salesians to Castel Gandolfo to run a parish and a youth oratory there.
A cherished Castel Gandolfo tradition
The Feast of Our Lady of the Lake procession is deeply cherished in Castel Gandolfo, though its roots are more recent than the town’s papal ties. The procession traces its origins to 1954, when then-parish priest Father Dino Sella began the annual event to draw together those who worked around Lake Albano.
The Church of Mary Most Holy of the Lake would not be built until 1977, when Pope Saint Paul VI consecrated it.
Leo’s visit Saturday came a year after Father Rozmus responded to requests from many residents by suggesting that the pope be invited to participate in the Feast of Our Lady of the Lake celebration.
Castel Gandolfo Mayor Alberto De Angelis told Vatican News that locals expressed their gratitude to the Holy Father for putting their little town “at the center of the world” and for taking part “as one of them” in the joyful celebration.
Father Rozmus noted that this year’s Feast of Our Lady of the Lake took place as part of thanksgiving festivities marking 400 years of popes’ presence in Castel Gandolfo, beginning with Urban VIII in 1626.
“With the pope’s presence, this thanksgiving takes on a particularly powerful meaning,” Father Rozmus told Vatican Media. “His presence, in my view, is also an appreciation of the gift of creation. Here in Castel Gandolfo, creation is represented by this beautiful lake, surrounded by these mountains, by the beauty of nature. It is a way of giving thanks, of savoring and breathing in that beauty….
“When Pope Saint Paul VI inaugurated the Church of Mary Most Holy of the Lake, his intention was that it should be a church that ‘breathes the lake’ because the church represents the boat of Saint Peter and invites us to give thanks — to be grateful for what we have. And here in Castel Gandolfo, above all, we have this beauty, which is the lake itself.”
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