The Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization announced that the pope will launch on May 1 a 30-day Rosary relay. Thirty shrines spread around the world will take turns leading the Rosary, for the intention of the end of the pandemic.
Vatican news channels will broadcast the Rosary each day at 6 pm, Rome time (12 noon EST).
Pope Francis will lead the Rosary of May 1 and of May 31.
The theme of the Rosary relay is from Acts 12:5, "the church prayed fervently to God." This verse is about the prayer of the early Church for Peter, right after the martyrdom of James. Peter had just been arrested by Herod and put in prison.
"While Peter was kept in prison, the church prayed fervently to God for him," the whole verse says.
Shortly thereafter, an angel rescues Peter from prison, a sign of the power of the Church's prayer.
This initiative broadens an initiative the pope had last year as the pandemic was in its first wave in Italy.
The Holy Father led the Rosary from the Vatican Gardens, while shrines from around the world connected via video stream.
