During this most difficult year, the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, in collaboration with the Vatican’s COVID-19 Commission have created a “Crisis & Health Rosary,” featuring meditations that can be used during the recitation of the Rosary.

Below is the official press release from the international office of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network:

COVID-19 has caused a global humanitarian crisis all over the world. All plans and desires have been stopped to give the world a time of deep reflection. This moment in history causes a change in human lives that needs to be transformed into action.

Brothers and sisters are turning back their eyes to God, to trust in his infinite mercy and ask for his assistance in healing the wounds caused by this pandemic. Furthermore, there is an urgent need to stop all the diseases that have hurt recently: the economic inequalities, the plight of the poor, the environmental abuse against our own Common House.

The Pope’s invitation during this time is to heal the world through prayer. It is the most powerful way to let the Lord to transform our heart and open ourselves to take care of others. As Pope Francis says: “Reflect and work together, as followers of the healing Jesus, to build a better world full of hope for future generations”.

The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network has been working on an initiative to respond to this call of the Church, too. As a result, they will launch a new rosary for this time of pandemic and illnesses: The Crisis & Health Rosary. The Vatican’s COVID-19 Commission, have elaborated the content. The writers, members of the Commission, intended to guide the prayer by linking some of the painful and struggling stories of people from all over the world with the contemplation of the different mysteries of the Rosary.

This rosary wants to strengthen the prayer for the world. For this purpose, real testimonies related to the COVID-19 can be found in each mystery. For example the story of David, who is confined to bed in his home for the elderly, after having tested positive for coronavirus. These are life experiences that will help to rediscover the Gospel lit up by the pandemic situation.

The Crisis & Health Rosary was released as an eBook on October 1. Available for Amazon Kindle and soon in the Google Play Books store. Furthermore, the Rosary can be downloaded for free as an EPUB, MOBI or PDF through the website https://www.popesprayer.va/crisis-health-rosary/

In addition, the Crisis & Health Rosary also features in Click To Pray eRosary, for iOS and Android. It can be downloaded totally for free in five languages. An audio guide will lead the user through the mysteries and it will help them to contemplate the Gospel while listening to the testimonies of those affected by the pandemic. Background music and special content are also available to aid them in their spiritual concentration.