Over one million children learned to be peacemakers through the rosary
From the streets of India to juvenile prisons in Ukraine, children all over the world prayed the rosary together and showed adults that peace begins through small gestures, such as praying together as a family.
Over one million children and youths, from all over the world, prayed the rosary for peace and unity during the week of 1 to 7 October, 2026, as part of the One Million Children Praying the Rosary campaign, promoted by pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
This year’s initiative was stretched out over seven days, and ended on 7 October, the day of Our Lady of the Rosary. It was kicked off by a very special event, when hundreds of young children joined Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican gardens to pray the rosary with him, on 1 October.
“This year’s One Million Children Praying the Rosary has touched me deeply. Once again, we have witnessed something that is both simple and extraordinary: children all over the world placing their hearts, their families and the needs of our world into the hands of God through the rosary,” said Nathalie D’Aqui, who coordinated the campaign from ACN’s headquarters in Königstein im Taunus, Germany.
Throughout the campaign, ACN received numerous testimonies from participating communities. In Poland, children gathered at the Presidential Palace and were led in prayer by the President’s chaplain, while children from the Scouts movement in Lebanon recorded videos encouraging those from other countries to pray together for peace.
ACN also received photographs of group prayers, from South Sudan to El Salvador, Zimbabwe to Poland, and many others, including night vigils in Kerala, India.
“We deeply believe in the power of children’s prayer. Through the rosary, we want to teach them that they too can become peacemakers and bring hope to those around them,” wrote Fr Gefthey Jean, of the parish of Notre-Dame de la Nativité, in the Diocese of Anse-à-Veau et Miragoâne, in Haiti.
“Thank you for sharing this wonderful initiative. It is inspiring to see how Aid to the Church in Need is uniting children and communities across the globe in prayer for peace and unity,” said Fr Alfred Kizito Ayella, from the Diocese of Gulu, in Uganda.
For some parishes the opportunity to take to the streets in prayer was seen as a welcome break from more difficult daily routines. “It was an experience of faith, prayer and a public witness to communion in our town, standing in stark contrast to its history of drug trafficking and guerrilla activity,” said one priest from Peru.
ACN also received moving accounts of inmates of a juvenile centre in Lviv praying with the youth prison chaplaincy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
“In a world that can so easily become divided, children are showing us that we can come together for something greater than ourselves,” wrote Nathalie D’Aqui, citing the example of Ukraine, where “the rosary became a quiet haven amid the chaos surrounding children”, who were encouraged to “pray together every day in their families, because peace must first be built within our own homes.”
According to the interactive map on ACN’s website, where people could sign up themselves, over one million thousand children participated. It should be noted, however, that many participants do not register officially, and so the count on the interactive map can be considered an underestimate. Reports and participation figures from some of the more remote areas are still being received, meaning that the total number continues to grow.
Over 55 thousand children prayed in the United States, and 111 thousand in Brazil. Nigeria was the country from Africa with most registered participants, at 151 thousand, and Philippines led in Asia, with over 220 thousand, while more than six thousand prayed in Australia. Poland, as always, did not disappoint, with at least 76 thousand registered participants.
“A child holding a rosary may seem like a small image, but when millions of children do it together, something extraordinary happens: They become a worldwide chain of prayer; they become a school of faith; they become a sign of unity, and they become little instruments of peace,” Nathalie D’Aqui concluded.
“We adults often wonder what we can do to change the world. Perhaps the children are reminding us of something very simple: we can begin by praying.”
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