From September 8 to 13, the European Meeting of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network took place at the Casa da Torre (Soutelo, Portugal), gathering over 40 national directors and coordinators from 18 countries, including Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, the Vatican, Germany, Malta, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, Denmark, Hungary, Austria, and Ukraine. The meeting was attended by Fr. Cristóbal Fones, SJ, International Director, and Fr. Miguel Pedro Melo, SJ, International Vice-Director. Deepening the Mission in the Present Time The first day was dedicated to reflecting on and deepening the identity and mission of this pontifical work in the current context of the Church and the pontificate of Pope Leo XIV. These moments of discernment helped renew the understanding of the Prayer Network as a service of compassion for the world, in tune with the challenges of humanity and the mission of the Church. During the following days, key topics were addressed to strengthen the life and service of the national teams. The role of the national director and their teams was discussed, seeking tools to accompany the mission in each country with greater closeness and effectiveness. Work was also done on the Eucharistic Youth Movement (EYM). There was a deeper focus on the mission of accompanying children and young people in their friendship with Jesus and in living a Eucharistic spirituality. A particularly significant moment was the participation of Fr. Vitaliy Osmolovskyy, SJ, who, despite the difficulties imposed by the war, obtained special authorization to leave Ukraine and share the reality of a mission that unfolds amidst the suffering and hope of his people. His presence led to one of the most moving moments of the meeting when a local group of the Eucharistic Youth Movement from Portugal surprised Fr. Vitaliy with a donation for humanitarian causes in Ukraine, thus expressing their closeness and fraternal prayer. Finally, the last day was dedicated to the shared mission and collaboration with various ecclesial actors, such as Episcopal Conferences, Apostolic Nuncios, and other works of the Church. Fruits of the Meeting At the final Mass, Fr. Cristóbal Fones, SJ, recalled that the Network is at the service of the Church and Christ’s mission, encouraging all national teams to respond to humanity’s challenges through prayer, service, and spiritual formation, especially in favor of peace, identified as the great challenge of our time. The European Meeting was a time of prayer, reflection, and fraternity that strengthened the bonds between countries and renewed the commitment to the common mission.

Fr António Sant’Ana SJ was appointed European Coordinator of the Pope’s Prayer Network by Fr. Dalibor Renić SJ, President of the Jesuit Conference of European Provincials. He will be the European Assistant of the International Director

On-line session in September 2021. As it is traditional to meet every two years in the European space of the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network, we wanted to keep – in this time of pandemic – a meeting by zoom. Quarantine obligations on our way back home, the possible contamination by very aggressive variants, did not however eliminate the importance of exchanging about our mission, which continues. We were there from twenty-two European countries, with representatives of the Eucharistic Youth Movement (EYM) from five countries. We came to know new people, especially from the Malta team, which came in large numbers. There have been recent changes in several teams: in France, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia, the United Kingdom and finally in Central Europe where four former Jesuit provinces and five countries have united (Germany, Austria, Latvia, Lithuania and Switzerland) – in the Prayer Network several countries were already working together in the German-speaking area (Deutscher Sprachraum); the German-speaking sharing group observed a minute's silence for Simon Lochbrunner, the former coordinator of the Prayer Network in Germany, who died recently in a car accident. We strive to make known the challenges of humanity and the mission of the Church, which involves making people aware of Jesus' compassion for the world. This is made clear by the Pope's Video (which in Poland is broadcast on national television); also Click To Pray, the Pope's official prayer platform. A World Day of Prayer for the challenge chosen by the Pope as a monthly intention reinvigorates the First Fridays, in solidarity with those who suffer, with the desire to help, to encourage, to keep hope alive.The main tools of our offering to the Lord are simply our joys, our sorrows, our time, our day.  Sometimes an exceptional event is entrusted to us: for example, on 11 June 2021, the 100th anniversary and renewal of the consecration of Poland to the Heart of Jesus was celebrated in the Jesuit church in Krakow, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart (photo opposite); Fr. Robert Więcek, S.J., director of the Prayer Network in Poland, was entrusted with the preparation of this celebration, which was attended by 96 bishops.  The Way of the Heart is our spiritual in-depth itinerary, presenting the Heart of Jesus in a missionary approach. Our international office edited first in Spanish a book for each of the nine steps of the Way of the Heart. You can find them via the following link : https://issuu.com/popesprayernet/stacks/c15b35fe52704222a38308f2f2c0f089  Fr. Frédéric Fornos, International Director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, told us also about Click To Pray, the digital platform of the Pope’s Prayer, at the service of a synodal Church. You are most invited to download it. You will also be able to join in the Prayer for the Synod through a prayer website that will start in the beginning of November ; this website is also entrusted to the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network : to support the synodal process, on Tuesday 19 October, the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, have launched with the support of the Dicastery for Communication of the Holy See a new version of Click To Pray, the Pope’s prayer app: www.clicktopray.org Together with the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops and the International Union Superiors General, we have launched a website to pray for a synodal Church: www.prayforthesynod.va  Thierry Monfils

In 2021 The Pope Video is available in 23 different languages. The Holy Father Francis announces his prayer intentions every month in The Pope Video, a global initiative of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network. The Pope Video is now celebrating five years and is already broadcasting in 23 different languages. (Vatican City, 23 May 2021)  Each month Pope Francis shares his prayer intentions regarding the challenges facing humanity and the mission of the Church. The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network (Apostleship of Prayer and EYM) brings these intentions to the world through The Pope Video, a global project transmitted mainly on major social media networks. Now in 2021 The Pope Video is being broadcast in 23 different languages.  The Pope Video was developed in 2016, originally in nine official languages: Spanish, English, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Dutch, Arabic and traditional Chinese. As time went on the project expanded considerably in scope and more languages such as Vietnamese, simplified Chinese, Polish, Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Catalan, Lithuanian, Slovenian, Hindi, Russian, Korean and Japanese were added as well. This year, to celebrate the fifth anniversary of The Pope Video, two further languages have been added, Filipino and the Mayan language Q’eqchi. Today the videos of the prayer intentions of Pope Francis have received more than 155 million views across the social networks of the Vatican and partners and have been covered in more than 17,500 international newspaper articles. Father Frédéric Fornos S.J., International Director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, explains how important it is for the Pope’s message to be conveyed in all languages and cultures: “The Heart of the Church’s mission is prayer, Francis tells us. Praying is entering into loving communication with the Father. This is a profound, intimate relationship, and there is no better way to speak to Him than in our own language, just as Jesus himself said, in his own Aramaic tongue: “Abba”, “Father”.  In order to pray for the challenges facing humanity and the Church’s mission, there is nothing better than to follow the prayer intentions of the Pope in our own language. Each of us prays in our own language while we are all united through prayer”. The Pope Video continues to expand so that people all over the world may join in prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father.  Each one prays in their own language but all are united through prayer, for the challenges facing humanity and the mission of the Church. Where can you watch the videos?  Official website of The Pope Video

In Portugal, the commemorations of the 175 years of the Apostleship of Prayer (AP) now the pope's worldwide network of prayer, ended during the weekend of October 19-20, in Fatima, with two great events: a Colloquium on the Heart of Jesus on Saturday, October 19, in which about 600 people participated; and the national pilgrimage of the AP on Sunday, October 20, which brought together one hundred thousand people from all over the country in the Shrine of Fatima. José Frazão Correia, sj, Provincial of the Jesuits in Portugal said during the colloquium that devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus must leave the "kitsch images" and find "its treasures" yet to show "the Christian faith" and the world. The Jesuit emphasized that the  devotion to the "Heart of Jesus" holds "many treasures that have not yet been sufficiently exposed, and they are what the Christian faith most needs to show to the life of believers, at a time when the Church must live on the margins, in the concrete reality of lives and families". The Final Eucharist took place on Sunday and was presided  by the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon, Manuel Clemente, and concelebrated by 200 priests, 38 bishops , including Cardinal António Marto, Bishop of Leiria-Fatima. In the words of D. Manuel Clemente, the Apostleship of Prayer, "a movement that spread most in Portuguese parishes" in the middle of the 19th century and during the first half of the 20th century, guaranteed "the life of faith" in "particularly difficult periods for the very survival of Christian communities". Today, the connection between prayer and apostolate "has relaunched the Church and the mission", as "Pope Francis recently wished, taking it up again as the World Network of the Pope's Prayer". "The same fruits will surely reappear", exhorted the president of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference. At the end of the Eucharist, the Portuguese dioceses were consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in front of the monument located in the center of the enclosure of the Shrine of Fatima.

The Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network meets with the Pope at 175th anniversary. "We can do many things, but without prayer, nothing works." Prayer is, in fact, at the heart of the Church's mission. Pope Francis addressed these words to approximately 6,000 people who gathered on the early morning of 28 June at the Paul VI Hall in Rome. There were 52 delegations from the five continents of the Worldwide Prayer Network, gathered to celebrate the 175th anniversary from the foundation and the 10th anniversary from the re-establishment of this prayer network, approved in 2014 by Pope Francis. Founded as the Apostleship of Prayer by the Jesuits in France in 1844, today the association has managed to unite in an invisible but effective network, as many as 35 million Catholics from every corner of the earth, including MEG, the Eucharistic Youth Movement. "We immerse ourselves in the concrete history of people whom we meet every day, especially by praying for them, offering up their joys and their sufferings". This is a mission of compassion for the world, "a journey of the heart", the Pope observed, "a prayerful program that transforms lives". "We are called to be witnesses and messengers of God's mercy, to offer the world a bright perspective.” Prayer always results in fraternal feelings, "it breaks down barriers, crosses borders, builds invisible but real and effective bridges, opens up horizons of hope", Pope Francis stressed when referring to the new version of Click to Pray in Chinese, and to Fr Matthew’s input, director of the Taiwan Network. "It is important to speak about our brothers: to speak of someone is a blessing, we must speak well of others and not gossip." Therefore, we should help the new generations to grow in their friendship with Jesus "through an intimate encounter with him in prayer, by listening to his Word, approaching the Eucharist as a gift of love for one's neighbor," Francis commented to the young people of the Eucharistic Youth Movement following the testimony given by Sr. Selam from Ethiopia. "We must offer young people opportunities to get in touch with their interior life, moments of spirituality, offer opportunities for them to learn about the Word, so that they can be enthusiastic missionaries within different environments" and interpret life events in the light of God’s love. We must teach children to pray, invite them to prayer lovingly, "because they reach the heart of Jesus immediately.”  As for grandparents: "The wisdom of the elderly, their experience and ability to 'reason' with the heart, teach us a precious and fruitful method of intercessory prayer." “It is important that the mission of the Church adapts to the times and makes use of the modern tools availed to us by modern technology", the Pope said in response to the testimony of Fr. Antonio, from Portugal, who illustrated how the apostolate of prayer, "with its immersion into the digital world, brings together old and young, giving them new energy". "It is a matter of entering contemporary arenas to proclaim God's mercy and goodness," explained Francis, while adding a warning, "to pay attention to how we make use of these means, especially the Internet, without becoming a slave to them”. Watch the video of the meeting with the Pope: