This branch springs from the Jesuits’ charism, and falls under the responsibility of the Father Adolfo Nicolas, who presented this project to Pope Francis, who approved it in July 2015.
Closer to the Heart of Jesus
The Pope, stressed Father Fornos, has the conviction that the prayer of the baptized must be nurtured and the App aims to stimulate the faithful to pray three times a day for the Pope’s intentions, in communion with the whole Church. It is a means to be closer to the Heart of Jesus by praying for humanity.
He presented what can be translated as A Click to Pray: an application for iPhone, Android or Windows Phone, available for free download on-line in order to remain linked each day of the month to Pope Francis’ prayer intentions.
“In this Holy Year of Mercy, Catholics are especially invited to pray for the Holy Father’s intentions; that is why we made the choice to launch this application. It is in fact a platform of communication in several social networks to mobilize people for the challenges facing humanity and the mission of the Church, explained Father Fornos.
This platform of prayer is in fact linked to a Facebook page, a Twitter account and YouTube, with a newsletter and a blog, in order to further expand this international network of prayer, which already gathers some 35 million people in 98 countries of the world around the Pope’s intentions. This was especially seen on the First Friday of the month, as Pope Francis said during his March 2 Wednesday General Audience that, The day after tomorrow will be the first Friday of the month, dedicated to the devotion to the Heart of Jesus.
The Great Challenges of Humanity and of the Mission of the Church
For the moment, the App has been developed in French, Portuguese, Spanish and English. Next year, it will offer this service in other languages: Italian, then Chinese, Indonesian, Korean, etc.
The inauguration took place on the occasion of the 24 Hours for the Lord, the initiative of prayer desired by Pope Francis, as part of the Jubilee Year of Mercy, with the possibility to receive mercy sacramentally and to pray at night.
This App is the second initiative of the Pope’s worldwide network of prayer (Apostolate of Prayer) this year, after the presentation of the videos of Pope Francis prayer intentions in January and February: 500 million people saw the first and already 30 million the second.
The App was first a project born in Portugal for young people, and its success — 80,000 subscribers — in concomitance with the Jubilee extended the project to the whole world to help pilgrims to pray with the Pope for the great challenges of humanity and of the mission of the Church in this Year of Mercy.
How It Works
The application Click to Pray gives access first of all to Pope Francis prayer intentions of each month: the universal intention (in March, families in difficulty) and the intention of missionary prayer (persecuted Christians).
It gives the possibility to pray three times a day, thus constituting a veritable little school of prayer: In the morning, with Jesus to entrust our life to the Lord and in communion with the whole Church; in the middle of the day, a brief prayer to be more open to the Holy Spirit; and in the evening to look with the Lord at the way we were available to Christ’s mission, explained Father Fornos.
Click To Pray also involves the sending of a small signal during the day indicating that it is the hour to pray for a moment in communion with the whole Church and for the very important challenges discerned by Pope Francis for today’s world.
Moreover, the application enables people to compose their own prayers, to submit intentions, and to invite other persons to pray together for those intentions.
Finally, the App gives access to commentaries on the way of the heart and the way of the spiritual life proposed by the Apostolate of Prayer.
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