Carmen Álvarez Cuadrado
This is how Pope Leo XIV’s rosary began alongside some 700 children at the Vatican, with the pope offering a bouquet of flowers to the Virgin Mary.
It took place right in front of the replica of the Lourdes Grotto, inside the Vatican Gardens. For the month of the rosary, Aid to the Church in Need holds an annual initiative called “A Million Children Praying the Rosary,” inviting people to pray for peace and unity in countries affected by war.
In 2026, the campaign is focusing on the message of Fatima: “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.” And Leo told the children that the people who love them most are Jesus and Mary.
POPE LEO XIV
ORIG. ITALIANO
We love them too, don’t we? [Yes!] Shall we say it? Let’s try. Let’s repeat together: I love you, Jesus [they repeat]. I love you, Mary [they repeat]. Yes, Jesus and Mary love you, and tonight we’re asking you for a special gift: peace for all the children of the world, especially for those who live where there is war, in so many countries around the world.
The pope told them they were not alone, that children around the world were joining them in praying the rosary:
POPE LEO XIV
All over the world, a million children are praying with us. A million! Just think: fifty million “Hail Marys” rising to Heaven from every corner of the earth and in every language, asking for peace, and coming together as if in a single, immense Rosary, to embrace and bind together all the continents, races, and nations of the planet.
There were moments like this...
And moments like this...
And so, a very special afternoon came to an end, praying for peace alongside Pope Leo XIV.
