For the second time, Pope Francis visited the Basilica of St. Mary Major. His first visit came the next day after his election as Pope. This time around, he visited the Salus Populi Romani, patroness of Rome, during the month the Catholic Church dedicates to the Virgin Mary and to pray the rosary before Marian shrines..
As bishop of Rome, he also took possession of the basilica, as he had done so with the St. Paul Outside the Walls and St. John Lateran.