Pope encourages Rosaries for peace this October

Pope John Paul II has encouraged Catholics around the world to pray the Rosary for peace throughout October - the month traditionally dedicated to Our Lady. Speaking to pilgrims at Castelgandolfo on Sunday before the Angelus, he said: "October moves us to discover once again this prayer ... so simple and yet so profound." "The Rosary," he said, "is a way of contemplating the face of Christ, carried out ... through the eyes of Mary. I want to suggest, therefore, that people, families and Christian communities pray the rosary." The Pope then said he was planning to write a document on the Rosary, "that will help us to discover once again the beauty and the depth of this prayer." "I want to entrust the great cause for peace to the rosary once again. We are faced by an international situation full of tensions, sometimes heated. In some parts of the world where confrontation is more severe, I am thinking in particular about the afflicted land of Christ, it is felt that political attempts are worthless ... if one is not capable of gaining a new outlook ... in order to renew with hope the threads of dialogue. But who can spread these feelings except for God? It is necessary more than ever that the petition for peace rises up to Him from all over the world." "In this way," the Pope said, "the rosary is an especially appropriate prayer. It constructs peace because, while appealing to God's grace, it plants in those who pray it a good seed which bears the fruits of justice and solidarity in personal and community life." After thanking the local mayor, officials and staff, Pope John Paul II left his summer residence at 6pm last night and has now returned to the Vatican. source: Vatican Information Service