In early September 2026, Pope Leo XIV traveled to the Genazzano sanctuary in Italy not as a sovereign of the Church but as a pilgrim — a man who kneels before an icon and asks for help. Returning to a site he had visited after his election, he sought Mary's intercession for the courage and wisdom that consequential leadership demands. In choosing pilgrimage over ceremony, he placed himself within the long human tradition of acknowledging that the heaviest decisions require more than one person's strength.