The Year of Prayer: Monsignor Fisichella says it is: “A privileged moment to rediscover the need for daily prayer”

At 11.30 this morning, a Press Conference was held to present plans for the ‘Year of Prayer’ in preparation for the 2025 Jubilee and to launch the series of booklets entitled ‘Notes on Prayer’.  It took place in the Holy See Press Office and the speakers were Archbishop Rino Fisichella, Pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization and Monsignor Graham Bell, Undersecretary of the Secretariat of the Dicastery.

The year that has just begun, 2024, will be marked as a Year of Prayer, it was officially inaugurated last Sunday by Pope Francis at the Angelus. It is “a special Year in preparation for the Jubilee, during which the spiritual horizon of the Jubilee must emerge more clearly, an element which goes far beyond the necessary and urgent issues of structure and organization. As the Pope underlined in the Te Deum liturgy at the end of last year: ‘The Christian, like Mary, is a pilgrim of hope’. And this will be the theme of the 2025 Jubilee: Pilgrims of hope", said Archbishop Fisichella.

As the Pro-Prefect was keen to underline: “This is not a Year with specific initiatives, rather, it should be seen as a privileged moment in which to rediscover the value of prayer, the need for daily prayer in Christian life; how to pray, and above all how to educate people to pray today, in the age of digital culture, so that prayer can be effective and fruitful.” To respond to this need, the Dicastery has prepared some materials that can accompany meditation and reading to better understand the value of prayer.

First, the 38 catechetical talks that Pope Francis gave from 6 May 2020 to 16 June 2021, which focus on various moments of prayer. In addition, as Mgr. Bell stated: “The Vatican Publishing House is publishing, starting today, a series of short booklets that delve into the various dimensions of the Christian act of praying, written by authors of international fame, and coordinated by this Dicastery. The first booklet ‘Prayer Today. A challenge’ with a preface by Pope Francis, is penned by Cardinal Angelo Comastri, former Vicar General of Vatican City and Archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica. The text, available in bookstores from January 23, offers reminders on the need for prayer and advice on how to have "a different approach and a different heart" highlighting figures who have testified to the fruitfulness of prayer such as Saint Therese of Lisieux, Saint Francis of Assisi and Mother Teresa of Calcutta."

The publication of the other seven volumes will follow shortly:

- Gianfranco Ravasi, Praying with the Psalms (February 2024)

- Juan López Vergara, The Prayer of Jesus (February 2024)

- Paul Murray OP, Praying with Saints and Sinners (March 2024)

- Antonio Pitta, The Parables of Prayer (March 2024)

- Carthusian Monks, The Church in Prayer (March 2024)

- Catherine Aubin, The Prayer of Mary and the Saints Who Encountered Her (April 2024)

- Ugo Vanni, The Prayer that Jesus taught us: ‘Our Father’ (April 2024)