Pope Francis has opened the Year of Prayer

On Sunday 21 January, on the fifth annual celebration of the ‘Sunday of the Word of God’, the Holy Father Pope Francis officially opened the Year of Prayer during the recitation of the Angelus. The Pope said: “Dear brothers and sisters, the next few months will lead us to the opening of the Holy Door, with which we will begin the Jubilee.  I ask you to intensify your prayer to prepare us to live this event of grace well and experience the strength of God's hope. Today we begin the Year of Prayer, that is, a year dedicated to rediscovering the great value and the absolute need for prayer in personal life, in the life of the Church and of the world.”

To fully experience this period of preparation for the 2025 Jubilee, added the Pontiff, "we will also be helped by the materials that the Dicastery for Evangelization will make available". In the next few days the first of the eight volumes of the "Notes on Prayer" series will be published by the Dicastery, published by LEV. The introductory book, entitled “Praying today. A challenge” is by Cardinal Angelo Comastri.

On Tuesday 23 January, at 11.30 am, in the Press Room of the Holy See (Sala San Pio X, via dell’Ospedale 1) a press conference to launch the Year of Prayer will be held at which will be presented various materials – such as the “Notes on Prayer”- which will be provided to the community to help them to take advantage the coming months.