Millions Gather Around Polish Border to Pray the Rosary

Last Saturday, millions of Polish Catholics gathered around the country’s 2000 mile border, forming a human chain, where they prayed the rosary to “save Poland and the world.”

The event was called “Rosary on the Borders,” and was organized by a joint effort of lay Catholics under the Solo Dios Basta Organization, “God Alone Suffices”. It was also endorsed by Church authorities in Poland, with 320 churches from 22 dioceses sponsoring the event. Millions traveled to one of 4,000 plus prayer locations around the country, with some making an over 100 mile journey. The Rosary was prayed and the intercession of the Virgin Mary asked all the way from the Baltic Sea coast in the north, to the mountains in Poland’s southern border that neighbors Slovenia and the Czech Republic.

Organizers say the event was a commemoration of the 100 year centenary of the Apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima, and the 140th anniversary of the Apparitions of Our Lady of Gietrzwald. It was also a commemoration of the 16th century naval battle of Lepanto, where the Holy League under Pope Pius V defeated the imposing Ottoman Empire in the Ionian Sea despite being outgunned and outmanned, “thus saving Europe from Islamization.”

Reverend Pawel Rytel-Andrianik, spokesperson for the Poland Bishop’s Conference, said the day was the second largest prayer event in Europe after the 2016 World Youth Day, which was also held in Poland. Father Rytel-Andrianik traveled to the Chopin Airport in Warsaw to pray, saying:

“During the prayer, I was at the Chopin airport in Warsaw, and there were so many people that they were pouring out of the chapel. This was an initiative started by lay people, which makes it even more extraordinary. Millions of people prayed the rosary together. This exceeded the boldest expectations of the organizers.”

Archbishop Marek Jedraszewski of Krakow held Mass before travelling to the border to pray the rosary. In his homily, he told the faithful of Poland to “pray for other nations of Europe and the world to understand that we need to return to the Christian roots of European culture if we want Europe to remain Europe.”

On the website of the event’s organizers, they said that:

“On this day we will go to the borders of Poland and we will pray on the rosary. Through this unprecedented prayer of the Rosary, we want to show the faithfulness and obedience of Mary, who tirelessly calls us to recite the Rosary. We also want to apologize and pay for all blasphemy, insults against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. We wish to implore by the intercession of the Mother of God to save Poland and the world.”