At 17.00 this afternoon, in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, the Holy Father Francis presided over the recitation of the Holy Rosary in supplication for the gift of peace.

The following is the Holy Father’s prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary:

Prayer of the Holy Father

O Mary, our Mother, once again we come before you. You know the sorrows and difficulties that burden our hearts in this hour. We lift our gaze to you, we ask that you regard us with love, we entrust ourselves to your heart.

You, O Mother, faced heavy trials and human fears in your own life, yet you were courageous and bold: you entrusted everything to God, you responded to him with love, and you offered yourself freely and generously. Intrepid in charity, you hastened to help Elizabeth, and were sensitive to the need of the bride and groom at the wedding feast of Cana. With deep inner strength, you brightened with paschal hope the night of sorrow on Calvary. Finally, with a Mother’s tender love you gave courage to the anxious disciples in the Upper Room and, with them, you welcomed the gift of the Spirit.

Now we entreat you: hear our cry! We need your loving gaze which invites us to trust in your Son Jesus. You who are ready to embrace our sorrows, come to our aid in these times burdened by injustice and devastated by wars, wipe away the tears of suffering of those who mourn the death of their loved ones, of their children. Rouse us from the indifference which has darkened our path and free our hearts from thoughts of violence, so that the prophecy of Isaiah may be fulfilled immediately: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Is 2:4).  

O Mother, turn your maternal gaze upon our human family, which has lost the joy of peace and the sense of fraternity. Mother, intercede for our endangered world, that it may protect life and reject war, care for the suffering, the poor, the defenceless, the sick and the afflicted, and watch over our common home.

Mother, we beg you to intercede for God’s mercy, you who are the Queen of Peace! Convert the hearts of those who fuel hatred, silence the roar of weapons that sow seeds of death, extinguish the violence that lurks in human hearts and inspire projects of peace in the actions of those who govern nations. 

Mary, Queen of the Holy Rosary, loosen the knots of selfishness and dispel the dark clouds of evil. Fill us with your tenderness, lift us up in your caring embrace and bestow on us your children your motherly caress, which gives us hope for the coming of a new humanity where “the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest. Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. The effect of righteousness will be peace” (Is 32:15-17).

O mother, Salus Populi Romani, pray for us!