Pope invites Church to pray rosary for peace in October

Pope Leo XIV has summoned everyone, in the Audience The Pope said that the Pope will be calling on everyone to pray a rosary for peace every day of the month of October, especially as a family, in community. In addition, on the 11th there will be a special Rosary for peace in San Pedro.

On a rainy day in Rome, with many umbrellas, the Pontiff made the announcement taking into account that "the month of October is dedicated by the Church to the Holy Rosary".

The invitation is to everyone, with special words for those who serve in Vatican City. Vatican employees and workers have been invited to pray this Marian prayer in St. Peter's Basilica every day at 7:00 p.m.

October 11, anniversary of the inauguration of Vatican II

In addition, Leo XIV said that on the evening of Saturday the 11th, at 6:00 p.m., in St. Peter's Square, the anniversary of the opening of the Vatican Council II.

St. John XXIII officially inaugurated the Second Vatican Council on October 11, 1962, during a solemn ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica, a council that would last 4 years, until its closure on December 8, 1965. At the inauguration, St. John XXIII, Pope Roncalli, delivered his speech 'Gaudet Mater Ecclesiae'.

The deepest and most radical gesture of God's love

In his catechesis, the Pope continued to contemplate the mystery of Holy Saturday, and focused on the descent of Jesus into hell, to which the First Letter of St. Peter refers.

What is happening is a salvific action, he pointed out. "Christ descends into the depths of death to bring the proclamation of the Resurrection to all those who lay in darkness. This event represents the most profound and radical gesture of God's love for humanity. He wanted to look for us there in the hells, that is, in that existential condition where pain, loneliness, guilt and separation from God and from others reign". 

"Christ descends there to liberate even today those who live in death because of evil and sin, those who live the daily hell of loneliness, shame, abandonment or weariness of life," he stressed.

If we have "hit rock bottom", God is merciful

Christ enters "into all these dark realities not to judge, but to liberate. Not to blame, but to save. Christ descends among the dead to manifest the love of the Father. Therefore, there is no past so damaged or history so irreparable that it cannot be touched by his mercy. 

If at times it seems to us that "we have hit rock bottom, let us remember that this is the place from which God is able to begin a new creation made of forgiven hearts," Leo XIV pointed out.

Also in Romanian

The Audience today inaugurated the reading in the Romanian and Slovak languages, in addition to the usual languages.

To the Romanian- and Hungarian-speaking pilgrims, the Pope said: "I address my cordial greetings to the Romanian- and Hungarian-speaking people, in particular to the faithful of the Greek-Catholic Eparchy of Maramures, Braşov, as well as to the delegation of Romanian senators, lawyers, professors and representatives of civil society. May this visit to the city of the Apostles Peter and Paul strengthen your faith, so that you may be ever more credible witnesses of the Gospel in the family and in society. To all my blessing!"

And in Slovako

"I address a cordial greeting to the Slovak-speaking faithful," he then added. "In particular, to the participants in the 19th pilgrimage of the Ordinariate of the Armed Forces and Armed Corps of the Slovak Republic, together with the parish groups."

"Dear brothers and sisters, you have come here in the Jubilee Year to pass through the Holy Doors. I wish you to be courageous witnesses to the Gospel of hope in the environment in which you live and work. With joy I impart the Apostolic Blessing to you, to your service and to your loved ones in the homeland. May Jesus Christ be praised!".

At the end, after the words in Italian, and before giving the Blessing, the Pope addressed his "thoughts to the young, the sick and the newlyweds. May friendship with Jesus be for you a source of joy, an inspiring motive for every choice, a consolation in moments of suffering and trial. To all my blessing!"