Pope Leo and the Rosary

Our Holy Father Pope Leo XIV is following in the footsteps of his predecessor Pope Leo XIII in his love and promotion of the Holy Rosary. Leo XIII reigned as pope from 1878 to 1903. During this time, he penned no less than twelve encyclicals on the Rosary. Although Pope Leo XIV has served as Successor of Saint Peter for less than six months, he has already frequently mentioned this time-honored devotion requested the faithful to turn to daily praying the Rosary with great fidelity and devotion.
 
On October 1 during the general audience the Holy Father noted, “As we begin October, the month dedicated to the Holy Rosary, I invite you to pray the Rosary every day for peace in the world.” Pope Leo previously also said this, “The Rosary is one of the most powerful devotions entrusted to us by Our Lady, and in these turbulent times, it remains a sure path to peace, conversion, and deeper love of Christ.” The Holy Father has announced that he will pray the Rosary every evening gathered with others in the Vatican at 7 PM each day of October. He also shared that he invites everyone to St. Peter’s Square for a public recitation of the Rosary on the evening of October 11 “during the vigil of the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality, also remembering the anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council” in 1962 (which on the calendar of the Church was the Feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary).
 
As he repeated again and again, Our Holy Father is greatly grieved by the violent wars that affect so many people today, in Ukraine, in the Holy Land and the many ways violence impacts families and nations. He teaches us that the Rosary is the “daily antidote to the poison of noise, despair, and spiritual indifference.” He also called for a slow and deliberate praying of the Rosary “thought by thought, bead by bead.” He emphasizes that the Rosary is the path to peace. He echoes the teaching of Pope St. John Paul II, who wrote that the Rosary, “although Marian in form, is Christological in nature”; it leads us through Mary to Jesus, her Son and Our Savior. Pope Leo also has underlines for us that the Rosary is a “chain that binds Satan,” offering a way to fight spiritual danger and restore peace.
 
In his deep devotion and great wisdom, Pope Leo has brought forth again the power of the Rosary. Just as the Rosary eradicated the Albigensian heresy in the 13^th century, defeated the Ottoman Turks in 1571 at the Battle of Lepanto, and ended the First World War as Our Lady of Fatima promised in 1917, so too, today the Rosary will heal human heats and bring peace to the world.
 
We should take up the Rosary again daily and especially pray in in common, in our families, in our parishes and in our communities. As Father Peyton, the 20^th century apostle of the Rosary, reminded people, “The family that prays together, stays together.” Pope St John Paul II taught with great wisdom, “The future of the world and the Church passes through the family.” The Rosary in the family and for the family has tremendous power in addressing the ills of our global family and our Church family.   
 
If we want peace, truth, love, and mercy in the world today, we should pray the Rosary. We can have our hearts healed, the hearts of leaders of nations be turned to peace, and the world transformed by a culture of life and a civilization of love. There is power in numbers who take up the Rosary of Our Mother.
 
Most Reverend William J. Waltersheid
Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh