Pope: May we pray for the intercession of the Virgin Mary for world peace
Pope Leo XIV urged the faithful to pray the Rosary for world peace, especially for the Holy Land and innocent victims of violence, joining Aid to the Church in Need’s children’s prayer initiative. The prayer campaign runs through October 7, allowing communities around the world to choose a day to pray for peace. To mark the tenth anniversary of Amoris Laetitia, the Pope announced a week-long synodal discernment gathering at the Vatican with Eastern Church leaders, bishops’ conference presidents, and testimonies from families across five continents. Pope Leo welcomed commemorations of Saint Francis of Assisi’s 800th anniversary, highlighting initiatives in Assisi and the saint’s message of peace.
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Pope Leo XIV used his October 4 Angelus address to urge prayers for peace, especially for the Holy Land and civilians affected by violence. He also announced a Vatican gathering on families marking ten years since Amoris Laetitia and welcomed commemorations of Saint Francis of Assisi.
The Pope encouraged the faithful to join children taking part in Aid to the Church in Need’s “One Million Children Praying the Holy Rosary” initiative, asking for the Virgin Mary’s intercession to free peoples from war. He singled out the Holy Land and innocent victims of violence in his appeal.
The initiative began in early October and runs through October 7, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Dioceses, parishes, schools, communities, and families can choose a suitable day to pray for peace.
Leo announced a week-long gathering beginning October 7 in the Paul VI Hall, attended by him, heads of the Eastern Churches, and presidents of Episcopal Conferences. Bishops and married couples from five continents are due to share testimonies as participants consider the situation of families and ways to renew and strengthen marriage.
The gathering marks the tenth anniversary of Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia. Leo described it as a period of synodal discernment on how to proclaim the Gospel to families and younger generations, and asked for prayers for the process.
On the 800th anniversary of Saint Francis’s death, Leo welcomed the many commemorative initiatives, particularly those in Assisi involving Italy’s senior state officials. He also greeted amateur radio operators from Assisi and Foligno for spreading the saint’s message of peace.
Marian intercession and Christian understandings of peace
Catholic teaching presents Marian intercession as part of Christian hope for peace—not as a substitute for Christ or for human responsibility, but as a way the Church asks God for peace through Mary’s maternal care. Christian peace is both a gift from God and a task for people: it calls for justice, charity, reconciliation, and practical efforts to reduce conflict.
Catholics believe Mary intercedes for humanity as a mother, not as an independent source of salvation. The 2025 doctrinal note explains that Mary accompanies the Church’s prayers and, as at Cana, brings human needs to Jesus. Her intercession serves the saving work Christ carries out; it does not compete with it.
The image of Cana also gives Marian prayer a concrete character. Mary notices a need and brings it to her Son. In a prayer for peace, Catholics therefore ask her to intercede while directing their hope to God, who alone grants the peace the world cannot produce by its own power.
Christian teaching does not reduce peace to a pause in fighting. Pius XII described peace among peoples as a life no longer fractured by rivalries and dissension, and as a unity guided by justice and sustained by charity.
At the same time, peace is not achieved by prayer alone in the sense of avoiding action. Paul VI taught that peace is primarily God’s gift, sought through constant prayer; the same text calls each person, according to their abilities and resources, to strive for justice and peace. Thus Christian prayer should form people who work for peace, not excuse them from doing so.
Marian devotion can nurture the dispositions peace requires. Paul VI connected contemplation of the Rosary with learning a peaceful spirit from Mary through sustained attention to Jesus’ life. John Paul II likewise taught that confidence in Mary’s maternal intercession can strengthen Christians on the demanding path of the Beatitudes.
So the Catholic understanding holds prayer and action together: Christians ask God for peace, trust Mary to intercede, and seek to embody peace through justice, charity, and reconciliation. Mary is invoked as Queen of Peace because she leads believers toward the Prince of Peace, not away from him.