On 5th Anniversary of Pope’s Election, More Than 1 Million Prayers Are Offered for Holy Father

On April 19, 2010, the fifth anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s election as Bishop of Rome, The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) announced that the Easter Prayer Campaign for the Pope not only reached its goal of 1 million prayers, but is continuing to grow.

“I am thrilled to report that the Easter Prayer Campaign has already surpassed the 1 million mark!” said Patrick J. Reilly, President of CNS.  “At this trying time for the Church and the Holy Father the most important thing Catholics can do is draw closer to our Lord through prayer.  By offering these prayers for the Pope, we support him in an invisible and mysterious, but very real way.”

CNS started the Easter Prayer Campaign for the Pope in response to a call by Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York on Palm Sunday for Catholics to pray for the Holy Father.

On Wednesday in Holy Week, CNS sent out an urgent appeal to its members to offer their prayers for the Holy Father.  The response with prayer pledges was immediate and overwhelming.  In just two and a half weeks more than 1,010,500 prayers were pledged for Pope Benedict.

The more than 1 million prayers include:

251,692 Rosaries
42,729 Holy Hours
30,448 Days of Fasting
104,782 Mass Intentions
19,222 Novenas
133,426 Divine Mercy Chaplets
404,359 General Prayers
23,909 Masses Offered by Priests
 
The Prayer Campaign will continue to run throughout the 50 days of Eastertide until Pentecost Sunday.

A number of other organizations and bloggers have encouraged prayers for Pope Benedict, including the Knights of Columbus, EWTN, Institute of Christ the King, and Fr. John Zuhlsdorf at the What Does the Prayer Really Say blog.

The Cardinal Newman Society is grateful to all those who have participated in the prayer campaign, as well as those who have assisted in gathering the prayers, especially Creative Minority Report and American Papist.