Prince of Peace Parish

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 7, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

October is designated by the Catholic Church as the Month of the Rosary, and Oct. 7 is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Here are seven common myths and facts about this devotion to Our Lady:

1. Only Catholics can pray the rosary. 

False. While rosaries are typically associated with Catholics, non-Catholics can certainly pray the rosary — and in fact, many credit it to their conversion. Even some Protestants recognize the rosary as a valid form of prayer.

2. Praying the rosary is idolatry. 

False. Some have objections to the rosary, claiming it idolizes Mary and is overly repetitive. 

Just like any practice, the rosary can be abused — just as someone might idolize a particular pastor or priest, a form of worship, or fasting. But the rosary itself is not a form of idolatry. 

The rosary is not a prayer to Mary — it is a meditation on the life of Christ revealed in five mysteries “with the purposes of drawing the person praying deeper into reflecting on Christ’s joys, sacrifices, sufferings, and the glorious miracles of his life.” 

When we pray the Hail Mary, we are not adoring Mary, we are asking for her intercession — just as we might ask a friend or family member to pray for us. 

Second, any prayer can lose its meaning if we do not intentionally meditate on it. Focusing on the mysteries with purpose and intention is key to the rosary’s transforming power. As one author encourages: “The rosary itself stays the same, but we do not.”

3. You can wear a rosary as a necklace.

It depends. It is typically considered disrespectful and irreverent to wear a rosary around one’s neck as jewelry, even though the Church does not have an explicit declaration against doing so. 

However, Canon 1171 of the Code of Canon Law says that “sacred objects, set aside for divine worship by dedication or blessing, are to be treated with reverence. They are not to be made over to secular or inappropriate use, even though they may belong to private persons.”

It is important to treat the rosary with respect and intention. If you intend to wear the rosary as a piece of jewelry, this would not be respectful and should be avoided. It goes without saying that wearing the rosary as a mockery or gang symbol would be a sin.

But if it is your intention to use the rosary and be mindful of prayer, then it could be permissible. It is not uncommon in some cultures, like in Honduras and El Salvador, to see the rosary respectfully worn around the neck as a sign of devotion.

Rosary rings or bracelets might be a better option if you want to keep your rosary close at hand as a reminder to pray, as they are kept more out of sight and would not be as easily misconstrued to be a piece of jewelry. 

4. The rosary is an extremist symbol.

False. A widely-shared 2022 Atlantic article went viral for accusing the rosary of being an “extremist symbol.” 

“Just as the AR-15 rifle has become a sacred object for Christian nationalists in general, the rosary has acquired a militaristic meaning for radical-traditional (or ‘rad trad’) Catholics,” the article read.

The author also cited the Church’s stance on traditional marriage and the sanctity of life as evidence of “extremism” and claimed that Catholics’ tendency to call the rosary a “weapon in the fight against evil” as dangerous.

As CNA reported in 2022, popes have urged Catholics to pray the rosary since 1571 — often referring to the rosary as a prayer “weapon” and most powerful spiritual tool.

5. The rosary is not biblical.

Untrue! Most of its words come directly from Scripture.

First, the Our Father is prayed. The words of the Our Father are those Christ taught his disciples to pray in Matthew 6:9–13.

The Hail Mary also comes straight from the Bible. The first part, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee,” comes from Luke 1:28, and the second, “Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,” is found in Luke 1:42.

Finally, each of the decades prayed on the rosary symbolizes an event in the lives of Jesus and Mary. The decades are divided into four sets of mysteries: joyful, luminous, sorrowful, and glorious, the majority of which are found in Scripture. 

6. A rosary bead, or pea, can kill you.

Somewhat true. A rosary pea, or abrus seed, is a vine plant native to India and parts of Asia. The seeds of the vine, which are red with black spots, are often used to make beaded jewelry — including rosaries. Rosary pea seeds contain a toxic substance called “abrin,” which is a naturally-occurring poison that can be fatal if ingested. However, it’s unlikely for someone to get abrin poisoning just from holding a rosary made from abrus seeds, as one would have to swallow them.

Today, most rosaries are made from other nontoxic materials, such as olive wood or glass — eliminating this concern.

7. Carrying a rosary can protect you.

True. The rosary has proven to be a miraculous force for protecting those of faith and bestowing upon them extra graces, such as the victory of the Christian forces at the Battle of Lepanto after St. Pius V implored Western Christians to pray the rosary.

Many great saints across history, including Pope John Paul II, Padre Pio, and Lucia of Fátima, have also recognized the rosary as the most powerful weapon in fighting the real spiritual battles we face in the world. 

We know that spiritual warfare is a real and present danger: “For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens” (Eph 6:11–12). 

“The rosary is a powerful weapon to put the demons to flight and to keep oneself from sin … If you desire peace in your hearts, in your homes, and in your country, assemble each evening to recite the rosary. Let not even one day pass without saying it, no matter how burdened you may be with many cares and labors,” Pope Pius XI said. 

This story was first published on Oct. 1, 2022, and has been updated.

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 6, 2025 / 18:13 pm (CNA).

Bishop Thomas John Paprocki and other figures emphasized the importance of faith formation for Catholic lawyers and the role that Catholic law schools have in helping shape perspectives of soon-to-be lawyers.

“Law certainly follows values,” Paprocki said in a panel discussion at an Ave Maria School of Law conference on Oct. 3, hosted at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C.

Paprocki — the bishop of Springfield, Illinois, and an adjunct professor at Ave Maria School of Law — said a person’s values, whether they come from theology or a secular notion of virtue, influence the way laws are crafted for all issues, including marriage or abortion.

For Catholic law schools, he said Scripture and doctrine “should be the basis for what we’re teaching” about values. He said values consistent with Church teaching should “influence the way we go about” addressing those issues.

Paprocki said he’s heard Catholics say they are “personally opposed to abortion” yet support legalized abortion. But he said he has never heard a person say he is “for open borders, but I don’t want to impose that belief on others.”

The bishop said faith formation for Catholic lawyers should ensure they have “a more robust understanding of the natural law,” as understood through Catholic social teaching. He said Christ instructs us to “go out and make disciples” and “not to be bashful about [our faith].”

Paprocki told CNA that in some contexts “you don’t necessarily have the opportunity to be very explicit” about matters of faith when employed as a lawyer, but “you should still be informed by your faith life.” Regarding lawmaking, he said “[you should] have religious principles that inform your [views] … and help shape what a policy should be.”

According to Paprocki, the nation’s founders saw the United States as a “religious country” to be informed by religious beliefs. He said that views informed by faith pose no threat to the First Amendment’s establishment clause, which prohibits “an establishment of religion.” The clause, he said, prohibits “an official church of the government.”

“That has been misinterpreted by some people to mean that you can’t mention God at all,” the bishop said.

Gerard Bradley, a retired Notre Dame law professor, said at the conference that the distinction between a secular law school and a Catholic law school ought to be that a Catholic school is “wed … not just to this truth or that truth, but the whole concept of truth.” He said a Catholic law school must reflect the view that Catholic doctrines “are truths that permeate everything we do.”

Lee Strang, executive director of Ohio State University’s Salmon P. Chase Center, spoke earlier in the day about the history of Catholic law schools in the United States, noting that they were initially created to advance the upward mobility of Catholic immigrants, bolster university reputations, and establish a culturally distinct law school. 

Over time, he said some schools began to teach a more intellectually Catholic understanding of law rooted in Catholic law tradition, which is focused on “a Catholic theory of the human person within the context of law.” 

Retired Loyola University Chicago law professor John Breen said modern Catholic law schools ought to ultimately be “directed toward worship of the Holy Trinity” with an understanding of human anthropology “that comes to us through the Church: the ‘imago Dei.’” 

“You can’t understand the human person if you don’t also contemplate God,” Breen said. 

He said alternative anthropologies lack an understanding of human exceptionalism and the soul, which distorts the understanding of law and emphasize an “atomized self” focused solely on “desire” or “choice.” 

Ave Maria law professor Ligia Castaldi noted an understanding of natural law rooted in Catholic doctrine is important for discussions about the sanctity of life from the moment of conception until natural death.

Richard Myers, another law professor at the university, noted the importance of Catholic legal thought on the issue of same-sex civil marriage. He said in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide, “[most] advocacy scholarship [was] on the wrong side of the issue.” 

Catholic legal thought, he said, “served an important function, a corrective function … [that was] important to the debate on those issues at that time.”

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 6, 2025 / 17:43 pm (CNA).

Members of Congress and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) are pushing to designate Nigeria as a country of particular concern (CPC) as religious persecution continues across the west African country.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, introduced legislation in September that would require the Trump administration to adopt the CPC designation in addition to imposing targeted sanctions against Nigerian government officials who facilitate or permit jihadist attacks against Christians and other religious minorities. 

Under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998, the U.S president must designate countries that engage in or tolerate “particularly severe violations of religious freedom” as CPCs. Violations include torture, prolonged detention without charges, and forced disappearence, according to the State Department. 

“Nigerian Christians are being targeted and executed for their faith by Islamist terrorist groups and are being forced to submit to sharia law and blasphemy laws across Nigeria,” Cruz said in a statement announcing a bill he named the Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act of 2025. 

“It is long past time to impose real costs on the Nigerian officials who facilitate these activities, and my Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act uses new and existing tools to do exactly that,” Cruz said, adding: “I urge my colleagues to advance this critical legislation expeditiously.”

Republican Sens. Ted Budd of North Carolina, Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, Josh Hawley of Missouri, and James Lankford of Oklahoma endorsed redesignating Nigeria in a Sept. 12 letter sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Budd posted on X.

Legislation is not likely to move forward until Congress settles an impasse over funding that has shut down the government for nearly a week. The State Department is expected to break its two-year moratorium on CPC designations later this year, likely in December. 

The last CPC designations were made by Secretary of State Antony Blinken in December 2023, when Blinken revoked Nigeria’s CPC designation that was put in place by then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2020. 

Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, introduced legislation in March calling for Nigeria’s redesignation “for engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.”

Similarly, the USCIRF also recommended the State Department designate Nigeria as a CPC in its latest update on religious freedom in the country in late July. 

“Twelve state governments and the federal government enforce blasphemy laws, prosecuting and imprisoning individuals perceived to have insulted religion,” the USCIRF said in its report, adding: “Despite efforts to reduce violence by nonstate actors, the government is often unable to prevent or slow to react to violent attacks by Fulani herders, bandit gangs, and insurgent entities such as JAS/Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).”

The latest congressional effort to bring about the designation comes as testimonies of Nigerians kidnapped by jihadist Fulani herdsmen have revealed that hundreds of Christians are still being held by the Islamist group in the infamous Rijana Forest in the southern part of Nigeria’s Kaduna state, ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, reported on Oct. 1. 

CNA Staff, Oct 6, 2025 / 17:13 pm (CNA).

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, called the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal brokered by the U.S. a “first step” toward peace.

In a statement, the terrorist group Hamas agreed to release the remaining Israeli hostages, living and dead, in the first steps of a peace deal brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump. 

Twenty living hostages and the bodies of 28 dead hostages are believed to remain in Gaza as the second anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack — the largest massacre of Jews since World War II — approaches.

Pizzaballa called the ceasefire deal “an important and long-awaited first step” in an Oct. 4 letter to the faithful.

The 20-point plan includes deradicalizing Gaza into a terror-free zone that doesn’t “pose a threat to its neighbors” and redeveloping Gaza for the people of Gaza, as well as an immediate ceasefire, the return of the hostages, and the return of nearly 2,000 Gazan prisoners. 

“If both sides agree to this proposal, the war will immediately end,” the plan reads. “Israeli forces will withdraw to the agreed-upon line to prepare for a hostage release. During this time, all military operations, including aerial and artillery bombardment, will be suspended, and battle lines will remain frozen until conditions are met for the complete staged withdrawal.”

Delegations from the U.S., Israel, Hamas, and some Middle Eastern countries met on Monday in Egypt for peace talks. 

“Nothing is entirely clear or definite yet; many questions remain unanswered, and much still needs to be defined,” Pizzaballa said. “We must not delude ourselves, but we are pleased that something new and positive is on the horizon.”

The first phase of the ceasefire would include the logistics of the hostage release, followed by a plan to create a Palestinian “technocratic, apolitical” leadership in Gaza that is not Hamas, according to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 

“We await the moment to rejoice for the families of the hostages, who will finally be able to embrace their loved ones,” Pizzaballa said. “We hope the same for Palestinian families, who will be able to embrace those returning from prison. We rejoice above all for the end of hostilities, which we hope will not be temporary and will bring relief to the inhabitants of Gaza.”

“We don’t know if this war will truly end, but we do know the conflict will continue because its root causes have yet to be addressed,” Pizzaballa said.

“The end of war does not necessarily mark the beginning of peace, but it is the first essential step toward building it,” Pizzaballa continued.  

Pizzaballa reflected on hope for the Easter resurrection amid the war. 

“Anger, resentment, distrust, hatred, and contempt too often dominate our discourse and pollute our hearts,” Pizzaballa said. “We risk becoming accustomed to suffering, but it need not be so. Every life lost, every wound inflicted, every hunger endured remains a scandal in God’s eyes.”

“The dominant narrative of recent years has been one of clash and reckoning, inevitably leading to the deeply painful reality of polarization,” Pizzaballa continued. “As a Church, reckoning does not belong to us, either as logic or as language. Jesus, our teacher and Lord, made love that becomes gift and forgiveness his life’s choice.” 

“His wounds are not an incitement to revenge but a sign of the ability to suffer out of love,” he said.

Vatican City, Oct 6, 2025 / 16:43 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV joined the Australian community for evening prayer at Domus Australia Catholic Chapel in Rome on Monday.

Before praying vespers with approximately 150 people, the Holy Father blessed a restored painting of Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii that was gifted to the chapel by soon-to-be saint Bartolo Longo.

“Indeed, this devotion to our Blessed Mother holds a special place in my heart, so I am also happy to share this occasion with the Australian community,” the Holy Father said in a short homily.

“It is my hope that this image … will inspire an ever greater devotion to her among the residents of the Domus and those who visit as pilgrims, as well as the members of the local community,” he added.

In light of the Church’s jubilee year dedicated to the theological virtue of hope, Leo encouraged those praying with him on Monday to be inspired by the example of the Mother of God.

“Mary embodied that virtue through her trust that God would fulfill his promises,” he said. “This hope, in turn, gave her the strength and courage to spend her life willingly for the sake of the Gospel and abandon herself entirely to God’s will.”

In his homily, the Holy Father emphasized the significance for “daily fidelity” to God even though “we do not know what the future holds.”

“God never delays; we are the ones who have to learn to trust, even if it requires patience and perseverance. God’s timing is always perfect,” he said.

“God always comes to save and liberate us,” he added.

Turning to the writings of St. Augustine, Leo said the early Church Father reminds Christians that God’s plan and purpose for each person is salvation and eternal life. 

“God created us without us, but he will not save us without us,” he said, quoting St. Augustine. “Thus, we are called to cooperate with him by living out a life of grace as his sons and daughters, making our own contribution to the plan of salvation.”

Moreover, the Holy Father said God did not “come simply to redeem us from slavery to sin” but to become children of God and “free our hearts” to accept his love. 

“God our Father ‘chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world … he destined us in love to be his sons and daughters through Jesus Christ,’” he said, citing a passage of St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians.

Before concluding vespers, Leo entrusted the Australian community living in Rome to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

“As you venerate Our Lady of Pompeii at the Domus Australia, it is my prayer that you also will be strengthened by the Holy Spirit in your own service to the Lord and his Church, and that you may bear much fruit, fruit that will last,” he said.