Before praying the Angelus Sunday morning, Benedict XVI recalled that the traditional annual “supplication”, in which thousands of faithful around the world participate, is taking place today at the Italian shrine of Pompei, dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary.
“As we too spiritually unite ourselves to that choral invocation, I would like to invite everyone to cherish the Rosary during the forthcoming Year of Faith. With the Rosary, in fact, we allow ourselves to be guided by Mary, the model of faith, in meditating upon the mysteries of Christ, and day after day we are helped to assimilate the Gospel so that it can shape our lives. Therefore, in the wake of my predecessors, and in particular Blessed John Paul II who ten years ago gave us his Apostolic Letter ‘Rosarium Virginis Mariae’, I invite people to pray the Rosary individually, in the family and in the community, placing themselves in the school of Mary who leads us to Christ, the living centre of our faith”.