CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS): Pope John Paul II has appealed for a global rediscovery of the Rosary as the ideal prayer for invoking world peace.
At his noon blessing on September 29, the Pope spoke for the first time about a document he is preparing on the Rosary to promote its use in families and communities on every continent.
‘The Rosary is a way to contemplate the face of Christ through the eyes of Mary. Therefore, it is a prayer rooted in the Gospel, and it remains in full harmony with the inspiration of the Second Vatican Council,’ the Pope said at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo.
The Pope said that during October, the month the Church traditionally devotes to the Rosary, he wanted to entrust the cause of peace to this revival of the Rosary prayer.
‘We face an international situation loaded with tensions, which are sometimes incandescent,’ he said. The situation in the Holy Land was especially dangerous, he added.
‘In some parts of the world where the conflict is the most intense – I am thinking of the tormented land of Christ – it’s clear that political efforts count for little … if people’s spirits remain aggravated,’ he said.
