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Vatican City (AsiaNews) – A Rosary prayer with a million children, "fifty million" Hail Marys, began this evening in order to invoke the gift of peace through the intercession of Our Lady.
Pope Leo XIV led the start in front of the Lourdes Grotto in the Vatican Gardens, together with a thousand children from Rome, symbolically launching the prayer initiative A Million Children Praying the Rosary, promoted by Aid to the Church in Need.
“We have gathered to be with the two people who love us more than anyone else," the pontiff told the children. “Who are they? The Lord Jesus and his Mother, Mary, who never leave us alone and are always close to us.”
Thus, “Let us tell them: We love you, Jesus and Mary. And tonight, we call for a special gift: peace for all the children of the world, especially those who live where there is war, in many countries around the world. We do this with the prayer of the Holy Rosary, which is a simple prayer that everyone can recite.”
The pope asked the children to accompany their prayer with a commitment: "to be good and to behave well, at home, school, catechism, with one’s parents, with everyone, even when we play and do sports, because prayers must always be accompanied by good deeds, with gestures of love. This is how peace grows.”
The 2026 campaign is inspired by the words of Our Lady of Fatima: “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.”
In his invitation to participants this year, Cardinal Kurt Koch, international president of Aid to the Church in Need and prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, notes that the Immaculate Heart of Mary represents a life entirely open to the Holy Spirit and points to Mary as a model of faith, love, and prayer.
Unlike previous years, the initiative does not last just one day but extends over a full week, till 7 October, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
So far, more than 316,000 people have registered on the initiative’s website, including more than 33,500 from Asia.
India and the Philippines are among the most represented countries, yet there is also significant participation from very small groups or individuals in places like Afghanistan and Myanmar.
The initiative takes on special significance at a time when millions of people are grappling with war, violence, persecution, poverty, and uncertainty.
In this context, children’s prayers serve as a simple yet universal sign of trust and hope: children from different languages, cultures, and countries, are united in the same prayer for peace.
The A Million Children Praying the Rosary initiative began in Venezuela in 2005 and has gradually evolved into a global prayer movement involving children, families, parishes, schools, and church groups across every continent.
The campaign draws inspiration from words attributed to Saint Pio of Pietrelcina: “The world will change when one million children pray the Rosary.”
The call is not only addressed to children. Aid to the Church in Need also encourages parents, teachers, priests, religious, catechists, and families to pray along with them.
It is not necessary to recite the entire Rosary; even a single decade, prayed with faith, can become part of this great worldwide chain of prayer.
