The Year of the Rosary

During my recent trip to Poland, I addressed Our Lady with the following words: “Most Holy Mother, … obtain also for me the strength in body and spirit, so I can carry out to the end the mission assigned to me by the risen Lord. To you I commend all the fruits of my life and my ministry; to you I entrust the future of the Church; ... in you do I trust and once more to you I declare: Totus tuus, Maria! Totus tuus!Amen” (Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, Aug. 19, 2002). Today I repeat these same words, and thank God for my 24 years of service to the Church in the See of Peter. On this special day, I entrust once again into the hands of the Mother of God the life of the Church and the life of humanity, which has suffered so many afflictions. And to her I entrust my own future, too. I lay it all in her hands, so that she will present it to her Son with a mother's love, “for the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:12).

Mary Leads Us to Jesus

Christ, the Redeemer of man, is at the center of our faith. Mary does not overshadow him, nor does she overshadow his work of salvation. The Virgin, who was assumed into heaven in body and soul, was the first to enjoy the fruits of her own Son's passion and resurrection, and she is the one who leads us most surely to Christ, the ultimate goal of our activity and of our entire existence. Therefore, when I recalled Christ's exhortation to “put out into the deep” to the whole Church in my apostolic letter “Novo Millennio Ineunte,” I added the thought that, “On this journey we are accompanied by the Blessed Virgin Mary to whom ... in the presence of a great number of bishops ... I entrusted the third millennium” (No. 58). Inviting believers to contemplate the face of Christ unceasingly, it was my great desire that Mary, his mother, be a teacher for all of us in this contemplation.

Year of the Rosary

Today I wish to express this desire with greater clarity through two symbolic gestures. In a few moments I will sign the apostolic letter “Rosarium Virginis Mariae.” Moreover, along with this document, which is dedicated to praying the rosary, I proclaim the year extending from October 2002 to October 2003 the Year of the Rosary. I do so not only because this is the 25th year of my pontificate; it is also the 120th anniversary of the encyclical Supremi Apostolatus Officio, with which my venerated predecessor, Pope Leo XIII, began publishing on Sept. 1, 1883, a series of documents specifically devoted to the rosary. There is also another reason. In the history of the Great Jubilees, it has been the custom after the Jubilee Year, which is dedicated to Christ and to his work of the redemption, to proclaim a year in honor of Mary, as if imploring her help so that the graces received at that time would be fruitful.

Mysteries of Light

Is there any better instrument than praying the rosary for the demanding yet extraordinarily rich endeavor of contemplating the face of Christ together with Mary? Nonetheless, we must rediscover the mystical depth that is contained in the simplicity of this prayer, which is so dear to our popular tradition. Indeed, the structure of this Marian prayer is such that it is above all a meditation on the mysteries of Christ's life and mission. As we repeat the Hail Mary, we can reflect profoundly on the essential events of the Son of God's mission on earth, which were transmitted to us by the Gospel and by Tradition. In order that this synthesis of the Gospel be more complete and offer greater inspiration, I have proposed in my apostolic letter “Rosarium Virginis Mariae” that another five mysteries be added to those upon which we already meditate in the rosary, and I have called them “the mysteries of light.” They encompass the public life of our Savior, from his baptism in the Jordan to the beginning of his passion. The purpose of this suggestion is to expand the scope of the rosary, so that those who recite it with devotion and not in some mechanical way will be able to penetrate even deeper the contents of the Good News and conform their own lives even more to Christ's life.

I thank all of you who are present here, as well as those who are united to me spiritually on this special day. Thank you for your good will and I especially thank you for the assurance of your constant support in prayer. I entrust this document on the holy rosary to the bishops and the faithful of the whole world. The Year of the Holy Rosary, which we will experience together, will certainly produce fruit in the hearts of all, renew and intensify the grace of the Great Jubilee Year 2000 and become a source of peace for the world.

May Mary, Queen of the Holy Rosary, whose beautiful image we see here before us as venerated in Pompeii, lead the Church's sons and daughters to the fullness of union with Christ in his glory!

(Register translation)