Marco Carvalho
At least 15 children and youth from the Portuguese-speaking Catholic community of the Sé Cathedral parish joined, earlier this week, thousands of children from around the world to pray for peace. The Catholic Diocese of Macau joined the “One Million Children Praying the Rosary” campaign, organized by the Aid to the Church in Need Pontifical Foundation, for the fourth consecutive year.
Thousands of children from different parts of the world answered the call of the Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) Pontifical Foundation and joined together in prayer earlier this week. Macau was no exception. About 15 local Portuguese-speaking children took part in the “One Million Children Praying the Rosary” initiative on Tuesday afternoon, gathering in prayer for the fourth consecutive year.
The ACN campaign, which began in 2005 as a small event in Venezuela, celebrated its 20th anniversary on October, 7th. The inspiration for the yearly initiative originally came from a saying which is quite often attributed to Saint Pio of Pietrelcina. Padre Pio used to say that “the world will change, when a million children pray the Rosary”. The campaign gained new momentum in 2019, when Pope Francis encouraged children around the world to pray the Rosary for peace and unity in the world, particularly in war-torn areas. Pope Leo XIV kept up the tradition of his predecessor, Pope Francis, by promoting the “One Million Children Praying the Rosary” campaign on social media. In Macau, local children joined the global prayer chain for the fourth year in a row, father Daniel Ribeiro told “O Clarim”: “This activity, which received a strong push from Pope Francis, aims to reach children and young people from all over the world, so that they can pray for peace on October 7, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. The goal is the same every year: to have one million children praying for peace in the world”, the Dehonian missionary explains. “It’s the fourth consecutive year that this initiative is observed by the Portuguese-speaking Catholic community at the Sé Cathedral Parish. This year, around 15 participants joined the campaign”, the Brazilian priest adds.
The Venezuelan-born prayer campaign achieved its intended goals for the first time ever two years ago. In 2023, more than one million and twelve thousand children, from 80 countries and regions, joined forces to pray for the victims of the conflicts that were raging around the world at the time. A defining feature of the contemporary global landscape, geopolitical tensions have increased ever since, with the ongoing war in Ukraine and the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict reinforcing the importance of seeking the Blessed Mother’s intercession to end all wars. Parishes, movements, schools and families are asked to pray during the entire month of October, but especially on October, 7th. In Macau, the initiative preceded the Solemn Mass celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary: “This campaign is a way to draw attention to the importance of the act of praying during the Month of the Rosary. At the Sé Cathedral parish, we pray the Rosary every day and this initiative was held before the 6PM Mass, when the community usually prays the Rosary. Therefore, children and adults joined together to pray the Rosary. We prayed the Rosary and immediately after we celebrated the Holy Mass”, Father Daniel Ribeiro emphasized. “This is an initiative of the Catholic Church worldwide. The purpose is to encourage people to pray one million Hail Mary’s around the world for peace and unity,” the parish vicar of the Cathedral Church summarizes.
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