Exhortation of the Holy Father to Pray the Rosary for Peace
Angelus Address
September 29, 2002
"I wish once again to entrust the great cause of peace to the
praying of the Rosary. We are facing an international situation that
is full of tensions, at times threatening to explode. In some parts
of the world, where the confrontation is harsher - I think
particularly of the suffering land of Christ - we can realize that,
even though they are necessary, political efforts are worth little
if one remains exacerbated in his mind and no one cares to
demonstrate a new disposition of heart in the hope of reviving the
struggle and effort of dialogue."
"Who but God alone can infuse such sentiments? It is more necessary
than ever that from every part of the earth prayer for peace be made
to Him. In this perspective, the Rosary turns out to be the form of
prayer most needed. It builds peace because, while it appeals to the
grace of God, it sows in the one praying it the seed of good from
which we can expect the fruit of justice and solidarity for personal
and community life.
I am thinking of nations and also of families. How much peace would
flow into family relationships if the family would begin again to
pray the Rosary."
During his Angelus
Address on October 26, 1997, the Holy Father said:
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
1. The
month of October ìs dedicated to praying the
Rosary, a popular prayer par excellence,
which belongs to the spiritual heritage of all God’s
People.
My
Predecessors were very fond of this prayer, which
Pius XII of venerable memory described as "a
compendium of the whole Gospel" (Letter to the
Archbishop of Manila: AAS 38 [1946], 419).
As we approach the end of the
first year of immediate preparation for the Jubilee
of the Year 2000, which is dedicated to Christ the
Saviour, I am pleased to recall what Pope Paul VI
wrote in his Apostolic Exhortation
Marialis cultus:
"As a Gospel prayer
centred on the mystery of the redemptive
Incarnation, the Rosary is therefore a prayer with a
clearly Christological orientation. Its most
characteristic element, in fact, the litany-like
succession of Hail Mary’s, ... constitutes the warp
on which is woven the contemplation of the mysteries
... as seen through the eyes of her who was closest
to the Lord" (nn. 46-47: AAS 66 [1974],
155-156).
2. How
many times in the course of history has the Church
had recourse to this prayer, especially in
particularly difficult moments. The Holy Rosary was
a privileged means for averting the danger of war
and obtaining the gift of peace from God. Did
not the Blessed Virgin, when appearing to the three
shepherd children in Fátima 80 years ago, ask that
the Rosary be recited for the conversion of sinners
and for peace in the world?
And how
could we do without prayer for peace at the end of a
century which has known terrible wars and
unfortunately continues to experience violence and
conflict? During these years when we are preparing
for the third Christian millennium, may Mary’s
Rosary help us to implore God for reconciliation and
peace for all humanity.
3. But
world peace also comes through the peace of
families, the basic cells of the great human family.
That is why the Church’s special attention is
directed to them, as evidenced by the recent world
meeting in Rio de Janeiro.
Today I
would like once again to propose that all
Christian families pray the Rosary, so that they
may taste the beauty of pausing together to
meditate, with Mary, on the joyful, sorrowful and
glorious mysteries of our Redemption, and thus to
sanctify the joyful and difficult moments of daily
life. Praying together helps the family to be more
united, peaceful and faithful to the Gospel.
May
Mary, Queen of the Holy Rosary, be every family's
teacher and guide in this prayer, which is
particularly dear to me.
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