POPE ANNOUNCES 5 NEW MYSTERIES OF ROSARY, YEAR OF THE ROSARY

VATICAN CITY, OCT 16, 2002 (VIS) - During today's weekly general audience held in St. Peter's Square, Pope John Paul signed an apostolic letter dedicated to the Rosary, announced that he had added five new mysteries to this eight-century old prayer and said that October 2002 to October 2003 would be the Year of the Rosary. Today also marked the 24th anniversary of the election of Pope John Paul to the papacy.

Tradition has it that St. Dominic spread the practice of praying the Rosary as a devotion to Mary in the 13th century. The image of Our Lady of the Rosary from the shrine of the same name in Pompeii was brought to Rome for today's audience by 1,500 pilgrims from this Italian town near Naples.

At the start of his catechesis today, the Holy Father repeated words he spoke last August during a trip to his native Poland: "Most holy Mother, ... obtain for me strength of body and spirit so that I may fulfill to the end the mission entrusted to me by the Risen One. To you I give the fruits of my life and my ministry; to you I entrust the destiny of the Church; ... In you I trust. ... 'Totus tuus, Maria! Totus tuus!' Amen."

"Very shortly," announced the Pope, "I will sign the Apostolic Letter 'Rosarium Virginis Mariae' (The Rosary of the Virgin Mary). In addition, together with this document, dedicated to the prayer of the Rosary, I am proclaiming the year that goes from October 2002 to October 2003 the Year of the Rosary."

John Paul II then asked: "For the demanding, but extraordinarily rich task of contemplating the face of Christ together with Mary, is there a better instrument than the prayer of the Rosary? ... Repeating the invocation 'Ave Maria', we can more deeply reflect on the essential events of the mission of the Son of God on earth, which have been transmitted to us by the Gospel and Tradition. In order for this synthesis of the Gospel to be more complete and to offer greater inspiration, in the Apostolic Letter 'Rosarium Virginis Mariae', I proposed adding five more mysteries to those currently contemplated in the Rosary, and I called them 'the mysteries of light'."

These mysteries, he underscored, focus on Jesus' public life: His Baptism in the Jordan, the wedding feast of Cana, His proclamation of the Kingdom of God, His institution of the Eucharist and the Transfiguration.

"Mary, Queen of the Rosary," the Holy Father concluded his catechesis, "whom we see here in the image venerated in Pompeii, lead the children of the Church to the fullness of union with Christ in His glory!"

The Pope them summarized his catechesis and announcements in French, English, German, Spanish and Portuguese, and greeted the numerous pilgrims present in Dutch, Croatian, Czech, Hungarian, Slovakian, Romanian, Italian and Polish.

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