Faith of children, power of prayer combine in million-strong rosary

(OSV News) -- As conflict rages worldwide, 1 million children are set to storm heaven with prayer.

On Oct. 18, Aid to the Church in Need will host its annual "One Million Children Praying the Rosary" campaign, inviting children -- as well as families, parishes, catechists and teachers -- to join in reciting the rosary that day, pledging their intention to do so at ACN's dedicated website for the initiative, millionchildrenpraying.org.

The website also features numerous resources, such as prayer kits and reflections for the rosary, in 15 languages.

ACN -- which since 1947 has worked under the guidance of the pope to provide pastoral and humanitarian assistance to persecuted Catholics, managing 5,000 projects in more than 145 countries each year -- will dedicate this year's effort to interceding for peace and unity.

"There are so many hot spots in the world," Edward Clancy, ACN's U.S.-based director of outreach, told OSV News. "It's really a time when the Church needs to be united and we need to pray for peace. Those are the two core principles of the rosary campaign."

More than 120 armed conflicts -- including the widening Israel-Hamas war and Russia's 10-year war on Ukraine -- are currently taking place around the world, involving over 60 states and 120 non-state armed groups, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which provides humanitarian aid to, and promotes laws protecting, victims of war.

Since the prayer campaign began in 2005, ACN has offered the rosary on Oct. 18, the feast of St. Luke the Evangelist, whose Gospel contains several passages featuring Mary.

Clancy noted that in 2024, that date falls on a Friday, when the rosary's Sorrowful Mysteries, which recount Christ's passion and death, are traditionally recited -- and the coincidence is a poignant one "especially with all that's going on" in the world, he told OSV News. "The Sorrowful Mysteries are the ones we should be praying during these current conditions."

The ACN rosary campaign, which currently partners with the Shrine of Fatima, the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network and the World Apostolate of Fatima, began in 2005 in Venezuela, while that nation was under the control of authoritarian leader Hugo Chavez (whose successor, Nicolas Maduro, has only intensified repression). Several women who were present while a group of children were praying the rosary were inspired by a quote popularly attributed to St. Pio of Pietrelcina: "When one million children pray the rosary, the world will change."

Children are uniquely qualified to intercede for the world, said Clancy, pointing to "a combination of their innocence (and) the sincerity of their prayer."

"Their prayers are much more efficacious," he said. "Our Lady is a mother. And what did Jesus say? 'Bring the children to me' (Mt 19:14, Mk 10:14, Lk 18:16). It is about the young people, the hope that they have, the ability for them to overcome so much."

ACN International president Cardinal Mauro Piacenza and the agency's ecclesiastical assistant Father Anton Lässer are urging faithful to organize Oct. 18 rosary prayers in schools, group meetings and online, said Clancy, adding that he and the ACN team seek "to help inspire the sense in people that they can do something, and that prayer does have an effect on the world."