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Each decade of that World Mission Rosary calls to mind an area where the Church continues her evangelizing mission : GREEN for the forests and grasslands of Africa BLUE for the ocean surrounding the islands of the Pacific; WHITE symbolizing Europe, the seat of the Holy Father who is the first missionary of the Church; RED calling to mind the fire of faith that brought missionaries to the Americas and YELLOW, the morning light of the East, for Asia.
What is the World Mission Rosary?
In February of 1951, Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, then the National Director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith (from 1950 to 1966), in a radio address (called The Catholic Hour), first announced the World Mission Rosary. He saw the need for us to pray not just for ourselves, but for the whole world, and especially for those who are poor and vulnerable at home and around the world.
What do the colors signify?
To pray the World Mission Rosary, reflect on each area of the world according to the particular color bead described above at the time you announce each Mystery. When you have completed the World Mission Rosary, you have given the World a big hug!
Praying this Rosary, Archbishop Sheen explained in that radio broadcast, would “aid the Holy Father and his Society for the Propagation of the Faith by supplying him with practical support, as well as prayers, for the poor mission territories of the world.” “When the Rosary is completed, one has…embraced all continents, all people in prayer,” he added. “Won’t you please make a tour of the world on your World Mission Rosary?”