Pope Leo has led hundreds of children in prayer for world peace at the Vatican. 

Marking the start of One Million Children Praying the Rosary, the Pope joined with 700 youngsters at the Lourdes Grotto on Thursday. 

The global initiative, organised by Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) for the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, aims to bring together children, families, schools, parishes and communities worldwide to pray for peace.

Pope Leo invited children to pray especially for young people living through conflict: “Let us ask together for a special gift – peace for all the children of the world, especially for those who live where there is war.” 

Thanking ACN for the initiative, the Pope invited the children to imagine “fifty million Hail Marys” rising to heaven “from everywhere and in all the languages of the earth”. He added that the children should also show acts of love as “this is how peace grows”.

At the event, Cardinal Kurt Koch highlighted children facing war, persecution or humanitarian crises in Ukraine, the Holy Land and Middle East, Pakistan, South Sudan, Cuba and Venezuela. He asked the Pope for his blessing, that the children might learn to be “little peacemakers”.