One of the highlights of this year’s campaign took place in the Chapel of the Apparitions in Fátima, where Cardinal António Marto thanked the children for their participation, adding that, with them, “God can do great and wonderful things”.
Last Friday, over one million children all over the world answered Pope Francis’ call to join the “One Million Children praying the Rosary” initiative, to pray for peace and unity, with the support, once again, of the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
According to information on the foundation’s website, a total of 1,135,945 children from over 150 countries officially signed up. The full figures are higher, according to ACN, since many of the participants did not register and others do not have easy access to the internet.
The country with the largest number of participants, according to online figures, was Nigeria, with 200,209, followed by the Philippines (162,684), Poland (151,365) and Brazil (75,579).
Countless testimonies
Images sent to ACN from Kharkiv, a city which has been largely levelled by the war, show children praying fervently, despite the bombing. The initiative united children from Gaza and Israel, as well as other conflict-torn regions such as Myanmar, Mozambique, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, all of whom prayed for peace. Participants hailed from as far away as Micronesia, French Polynesia and the Antarctic.
Countries where Christians are a minority, such as Bangladesh and India, organised colourful processions, with dozens of children walking alongside images of Mary, according to photographs and videos received by ACN. In the Philippines, the country with the second highest number of participants, students scattered thousands of flowers at the feet of an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, before going to pray in the Cathedral of Malolos.
Sister Francesca Anyanwu tells ACN that over 700 children came together for a procession through the streets of the Diocese of Kenema in Sierra Leone. “These children are a powerful reminder that there is a universal desire for peace,” the religious sister states. “Their sincere innocence and purity of intent transmits a message that echoes among people of all ages: hope in a world of peace and harmony.” Thousands of kilometres away, at a school in Ohio, USA, a teacher shares how touched her students were with the initiative. “They fully understood the mission, and they thought it was really cool!”
Fatima: “We are here to fight for peace with the spiritual weapon of our prayer”
Every country in South America, where Marian devotion is very strong, responded positively to Pope Francis’ invitation. In Argentina, for example, 10,000 pamphlets were distributed with the mysteries of the rosary translated into Braille for the first time. Representatives of the state’s department for religious affairs expressed their support for the campaign, which “contributes to awareness and to the promotion of the prayer of the Rosary, one of the clearest signs of the love that generations of young people feel for Jesus and for His mother, Mary”.
Hundreds of children gathered in the Chapel of the Apparitions in Fatima, the heart of Marian devotion in Portugal, to share in this prayer. Cardinal António Marto presided, stating that children are conscious of the “pain of those innocents who suffer the horrors of war, which has 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. 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.”