American kids double the number taking part in One Million Children Praying the Rosary

About 22,000 American children took part in Aid to the Church in Need’s One Million Children Praying the Rosary initiative on Tuesday, more than double last year’s figure.

It was the 20th anniversary of the ACN initiative, which began in 2005 as a small event in Venezuela. The inspiration originally came from a saying attributed to St. Pio of Pietrelcina (“Padre Pio”): “When a million children pray the Rosary, the world will change.”

The initiative was given a boost Tuesday, October 7, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, when Pope Leo XIV tweeted, “As we contemplate with Mary the mysteries of Christ our Savior, let us deepen our prayer for peace, which should become concrete solidarity with people tormented by war. I thank the many children around the world who are praying the #Holy Rosary for this intention. #1MillionChildrenPraying @ACN_int.”

Across the United States, groups met in churches, schools, homes and public places to take part in the Marian devotion. Events took place in basilicas and cathedrals, in parochial schools and homeschool groups. Many individuals and small groups signed up through the ACN website, but there also were several groups of 300-800 or more.

At Queen of Angels Catholic School, a K-8 regional school in Roswell, Georgia, about 500 students took part. Small vases were set up ahead of time in the form of a rosary on the gym floor, and as students recited each prayer, a 7th grader placed a rose into a vase — white for Our Father and pink or red for Hail Mary. The choir sang Marian hymns between decades, and the fourth decade was led by a native speaker of Spanish.

In Delray Beach, Florida, the 472 students at St. Vincent Ferrer School prayed in their classrooms and even in conjunction with a volleyball game at the end of the day.

It was the fourth year that the school participated in the One Million Children initiative. In years past, children stood inside St. Vincent Ferrer Church in the shape of a larger-than-life rosary. As each child took a turn at the prayers, he or she placed a candle on the floor.

“It was always very powerful when they saw the whole Rosary illuminated in the sanctuary,” said Sister Elizabeth Halaj, the school’s religious, sacramental and liturgical director. “So actually, they were asking to do it again: ‘Sister, are we going to pray?’ Definitely, it brings them peace, brings them comfort, and unites them even more.”

Having an impact

This year, the entire student body prayed together at the beginning of the day as Sister Elizabeth led the initial prayers – Creed, Lord’s Prayer and Hail Mary – over the public address system. Then, designated students went from one classroom to another to lead each successive decade.

Sister Elizabeth, a member of the Little Servant Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, said that students were excited to be part of the expected million children praying and have been asking whether the worldwide count has reached its goal yet. 

In years past – 2023 and 2024 – participation exceeded the goal.

“It was very meaningful, because it expressed a lot about the phases in Jesus’s life,” Lucia Ott, school president, told ACN-USA. “We need to realize that our world doesn’t have peace, and by praying to Mary and Jesus we get help when they show us the way we need to go,” the eighth grader said.

Sister Elizabeth, who is originally from Poland, emphasizes to students that prayer is not just reciting words, as if it were a poem. “It’s your relationship with Jesus. You talk to Jesus,” she says.

Lisa Gustinelli-Polajenko, the school’s director of instructional technology, said that October 7 will not be the end of the experience.

“In every grade we’re going to connect the whole project to the different subjects,” she said. “For example, in science, they will be studying about the climate and the geography of different countries where children are doing this. In math, they’re going to be looking perhaps at percentages of donations from different countries. In English, they’ll write a reflection about the day.”

Sister Elizabeth is confident that the school’s prayers will have an effect where it matters most.

“I do believe that if 1 million children pray the Rosary for peace there will be peace,” she said, “because their voice is heard.”

According to statistics gathered by ACN, almost 500,000 children, from 111 countries, were officially registered online by October 8, 2025. However, previous experience shows that many groups, families and individuals around the world take part in the campaign without registering online, so the full number is likely to far exceed that.

—John Burger