About Us
My Heart. His Heart. All Hearts
Who We Are
Get Involved!
Who We Are
The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network (Apostleship of Prayer) addresses the challenges facing humanity and assists the mission of the Church.
VISION
To pray and work to meet the challenges of the world identified by the Pope. His intentions are keys for our prayers and mission.
MISSION
You are apostles in daily life, walking a spiritual path called “Way of the Heart,” working to serve Christ’s mission.
Our Story
Our story begins on December 3, 1844, on the feast of St. Francis Xavier, at the novitiate for Jesuit students in Vals-près-le-Puy (central region of France). Their spiritual father, Father Gautrelet, SJ, held a meeting with the students to express dissatisfaction with an attitude developing among them. The problem was that they were more motivated by the idea of setting off for faraway missions in India than by having to learn theology.
He urged them to concentrate more on their studies. But, when he was commenting on St. Francis Xavier’s missionary adventure in the homily for that feast-day’s Mass, he unintentionally aroused the young students’ enthusiasm by describing how a life entirely given to study could be very effective in the apostolate: “If each one infuses his labours with the spirit of prayer and makes of them an offering; if several jointly direct themselves in the same way, there would be a convergence of power capable of lifting up mountains!”
“Let every knee bend before Thee, O greatness of my God, so supremely humbled in the Sacred Host. May every heart love Thee, every spirit adore Thee and every will be subject to Thee!”
– Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque –