The proclamation of the “Year of the Rosary” and the introduction, in the Marian prayer most widely diffused in the world, of five new “mysteries of light”, linked to salient moments in the public life of Jesus (baptism, wedding feast of Cana, announcement of the Kingdom of God with the invitation to conversion, the transfiguration and the institution of the Eucharist): thus begins the 25th year of pontificate of John Paul II, who celebrated the anniversary on 16 October with the publication of the Apostolic Letter “Rosarium Virginis Mariae”. The Year of the Rosary runs from October this year to October 2003. The Pope invited the “individual ecclesial communities” to “integrate and consolidate their pastoral plans” with the recitation of this prayer which “leads to the very heart of the Christian life”. According to John Paul II, the Rosary is a “prayer for peace and for the family”. It enables “us to hope in a less sombre future” and to counter the “disintegrating forces” that are threatening the family.
