On Sunday, October 7, 2007, Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary, Pope Benedict XVI introduced the recitation of the Angelus for the faithful gathered in St Peter's Square with comments on the Rosary:
Dear Brothers and Sisters, this first Sunday of October offers us two reasons for prayer and reflection: the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary, which is celebrated precisely today, and missionary commitment, to which this month is especially dedicated.
The traditional image of Our Lady of the Rosary portrays Mary who with one arm supports the Child Jesus and with the other is offering the rosary beads to St Dominic.
This important iconography shows that the Rosary is a means given by the Virgin to contemplate Jesus and, in meditating on his life, to love him and follow him ever more faithfully.
It is this message that Our Lady has also bequeathed to us in her various apparitions. I am thinking in particular of the apparition in Fatima that occurred 90 years ago. Presenting herself as "Our Lady of the Rosary", she insistently recommended the daily recitation of the Rosary to the three little shepherd children, Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco, in order to obtain the end of the war.
Let us also accept the Virgin's motherly request, pledging to recite the Rosary with faith for peace in families, nations and throughout world.
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