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 from October 1 to 7, 2026, as part of the One Million Children Praying the Rosary (OMC) campaign, promoted by Pontifical Charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
In Canada, 6,694 participants were registered on the event’s international map. “I’m very happy to see that more and more children, their parents, and their chaperones are taking part in the event. Compared to last year, participation across the country more than doubled,” said Marie-Claude Lalonde, National Director of ACN. “In addition to Rémi, our young French-speaking ambassador who returned this year, Cecilia and Isaac joined him as English-speaking ambassadors for the event.”
The Toronto area had the highest number of registrations, with 3,566 participants signed up. “A big thank you to everyone who prayed, and of course, especially to the children who took the time to pray for unity and peace in the world. It’s extraordinary to see that hope for unity and peace still exists,” concludes Ms. Lalonde.
Pope Leo Joins In!
This year’s initiative was stretched out over seven days, concluding on October 7, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. It was kicked off on October 1 by a very special event, when hundreds of young children joined Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican Gardens to pray the Rosary with him.
“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, revealing how the Rosary has become a symbol of hope in places where peace can often feel elusive.
“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 with their families, because peace must first be built within our own homes.”
According to the interactive map on ACN’s website, which featured participants who registered, over one million 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.
More than 55,000 children prayed in the United States and more than 111,000 in Brazil. Nigeria was the country from Africa with the most registered participants at 151,000, and the Philippines led in Asia, with over 220,000 participants, while more than 6,000 prayed in Australia. Poland, as always, did not disappoint, with at least 76,000 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.”
