Pope thanks children who prayed for peace in ACN campaign
This was the 20th edition of ACN’s One Million Children Praying the Rosary campaign.
Pope Leo XIV kept up the tradition of his predecessor, Pope Francis, by promoting the One Million Children Praying the Rosary campaign, organised by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), on social media, with a post reading: “As we contemplate with Mary the mysteries of Christ our Savior, let us deepen our prayer for peace, which should become concrete solidarity with people tormented by war. I thank the many children around the world who are praying the #Holy Rosary for this intention. #1MillionChildrenPraying @ACN_int.”
According to statistics gathered by ACN, almost 500,000 children, from 111 countries, were officially registered online by October 8, 2025. However, previous experience shows that many groups, families and individuals around the world take part in the campaign without registering online, so the full number is likely to far exceed that.
Testimonies have been pouring into ACN International from several countries in every continent, with moving testimonies from participants. One parish in the Diocese of Lichinga, Mozambique – a country that has been suffering from an Islamist insurgency for seven years – gathered 100 young people to pray for peace in their country and others. “The children were very interested. We had met with them twice before, to prepare them. Many of the children didn’t know about the rosary or had never prayed it, so the initiative was the first of many opportunities to pray the rosary with them in the future,” the parish said, in an email.
The Diocese of Jalingo, Nigeria, also wrote, explaining that “on this feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary, the children of our diocese have also joined in the prayer campaign of One Million Children Praying the Rosary. This was done in parishes, chaplaincies and pastoral areas across our diocese. We also added Holy hour adoration to the Blessed sacrament as pilgrims of hope among the peoples. May God hear our prayers and grant us unity and peace in our troubled world.”
Poland was the country with most participants in this edition of the campaign, totalling over 86,000, followed by Brazil with almost 50,000. The Philippines and Slovakia also had over 40,000 participants each. The United Kingdom had over 35,000, and Hungary and Portugal had over 25,000 each.
The USA doubled its official participation this year, reaching 22,000. Despite more modest numbers, the participation of countries such as Liberia or Algeria, with 100 participants each, show the global reach of this campaign.
For more information on the campaign, and a full listing of official numbers, visit ACN’s website and check out the interactive map.
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