World Rosary Day, united in praying the Holy Rosary for the success of the Jubilee

An initiative which stems from the desire of Pope Francis (as expressed in the letter he wrote to Archbishop Rino Fisichella in preparation for the Jubilee of 2025) to “dedicate the year preceding the Jubilee event, 2024, to a great ‘symphony’ of prayer”, and the Holy Father’s call for a direct petition “to the Virgin Mary to accompany the Church on the path of preparation for the event of grace of the Jubilee", World Rosary Day will be marked as a day of global prayer focused on the Holy Rosary.

The promoters of the day of prayer, the European Forum of Confraternities, (a fraternal movement launched in 2020 in Lugano, Switzerland, which is now preparing its fifth annual assembly) has invited all confraternities, shrines, religious orders and other lay associations with a strong Marian spirituality, to participate in the special initiative on October 7, 2024, by reciting the prayer to the Virgin Mary at 7pm in each participant’s local time zone.

The first Rosary will be recited at 7pm on 7 October in New Zealand, at the Marian parish in Pukekaraka Maori territory, Ōtaki, Aotearoa, where Fr. Phil Cody SM will recite the Rosary in the Maori language together with his parishioners.

At 7pm Italian time, Archbishop Rolandas Makrickas will lead the recitation of the Rosary in the Papal Basilica of St Mary Major in Rome, in the chapel of Our Lady Salus Populi Romani, (Savior of the Roman People) a place of exceptional spiritual significance in the context of the Jubilee. Thus, the prayer will be recited from East to West, circling the whole Earth.

The Dominican Order has been given a specific role in the event, as the Dominicans are the great promoters of the Holy Rosary and are also the authority on which the Confraternities of the Holy Rosary depend. Also involved in the event are the Confraternities of the Scapular, which form part of the Carmelite family.

To help organise and conduct this great global prayer event, the Forum has created a special website: www.worldrosaryday.com where you can register to actively participate with your association or community, receive updates and useful news.

The main national groupings of Confraternities that form part of the Forum have already signed up for the event, including the Confederation of Confraternities of the Dioceses of Italy which oversees 3,300 associations, and also some large regional groups such as the Union of Confraternities of the Diocese of Lugano (UCDL ), with its 60 associations.

However, individual shrines, confraternities, Religious Orders, parishes and prayer groups who wish to do so are also invited to register and participate.  

World Rosary Day will be the first time in history in which all Confraternities - in Europe alone diocesan confraternities number some 28,000 - will unite for a universal prayer for a single intention: namely to pray for the spiritual success of the Jubilee of Hope,  through the intercession of Our Lady, Mother of Hope - Mater Spei.