Italy:

Thousands of Catholic children from around the world gathered in their schools, parish churches, and homes on October 18 to participate in the One Million Children Praying the Rosary campaign. This annual campaign was organized by the Pontifical Foundation, Aid to the Church in Need. Peace and unity were the primary prayer intentions of this year.

Children from countries including Poland, India, the Philippines, the United States, and Germany took part in the campaign. Prior to the campaign day, Socrates Villegas, the Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan in the Philippines, released a video message encouraging participation in the Rosary campaign, stating that “when all the children of God pray the Rosary together, it is music to the ears of God.” “I am very sure that God will not resist the voice of children praying together for world peace,” he said in the video.

'Aid to the Church in Need' has requested participants to share pictures of their Rosary prayer gatherings on social media using the hashtag #1MillionChildrenPraying. The partners for this year's campaign included the Fatima shrine in Portugal, the World Apostolate of Fatima, and the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network. The Catholic Church annually observes the month of October as the Rosary month.