For the second year in a row, a Catholic charity’s prayer campaign for peace surpassed the target of more than a million children participating, following a call by the Pope to join the event.
A total of 1,135,945 children from more than 150 countries signed up to join Aid to the Church in Need (ACN)’s “One Million Children Praying the Rosary” initiative for peace and unity in the world’s conflict zones on 18th October.
Pope Francis said during the Angelus on Sunday, 13th October: “Thank you to all the boys and girls who are participating.
“Let us join with them and entrust to the intercession of Our Lady.”
The Pope concluded: “Let us entrust to the intercession of Our Lady tormented Ukraine, Myanmar, Sudan and the other populations who suffer because of war and any form of violence and misery.”
The country with the largest number of confirmed participants was Nigeria (200,209), followed by the Philippines (162,684), Poland (151,365) and Brazil (75,579).
The “One Million Children Praying the Rosary” campaign has taken place every year on the Feast Day of Saint Luke the Evangelist since first being organised in Caracas, Venezuela in 2005.
This year’s motto echoed the request made by Our Lady of Fatima in 1917: “Pray the rosary every day to achieve peace in the world and the end of war.”
Inspired by ACN’s campaign, hundreds of children gathered in the Chapel of the Apparitions in Fatima to pray the Rosary, led by Cardinal António Marto.
The cardinal told the charity that children are conscious of the “pain of those innocents who suffer the horrors of war, which have become increasingly fierce.
“Today, these children are the messengers of the love of the victims of the world: with them, God can do great and wonderful things.”
Cardinal Marto added: “When Our Lady asked us to pray the Rosary, she did it so that we would feel united in prayer.
“Here we are fighting for peace with the spiritual weapon of our prayer, so that the mercy of God may always come upon this world, which is so full of wounds.”
The initiative also brought children together to pray the Rosary in conflict-ridden regions such as Ukraine, the Holy Land, Myanmar, Mozambique, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Children in countries where Christians are a minority – including Bangladesh and India – also joined in, and there were even participants from remote locations like Micronesia, French Polynesia and the Antarctic.
By Amy Balog | acnuk
