At 17.30 this afternoon, Eve of Pentecost Sunday, the Holy Father Francis will preside over the recitation of the Holy Rosary from the Grotto of Lourdes in the Vatican Gardens.

The Marian celebration is promoted by the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation, on the theme: “Devoted and with one accord to prayer, together with Mary (cf. Acts 1:14)”. Marian Shrines throughout the world will join Pope Francis in this moment of prayer, broadcast to the world on the eve of Pentecost Sunday.

Some women and men representing various categories of people particularly affected by the virus will pray the Mysteries. There will be a doctor and a nurse, as witnesses to the medical personnel working on the front lines in the hospitals; a person who has been cured and one who has lost a family member, in the name of all those who have been personally touched by the coronavirus; a priest, hospital chaplain and a nursing nun, for all the priests and consecrated persons close to those affected by the disease; a pharmacist and a journalist, who represent all those who, even during the period of the pandemic, have continued to serve for others; a Civil Defence volunteer with his family, on behalf of all those who are working to deal with this emergency and the vast world of volunteerism; and a young family, to whom a child was born during this period.