Faith

This little one in Cambodia is already praying for YOU on his World Mission Rosary!

Propagation of the Faith

Journey to the Ends of the Earth in Prayer

Friday, May 9, 2025Faith

As I have been privileged to travel around the world, witnessing the work funded by the Pontifical Mission Societies (TPMS), I make it a point to carry World Mission Rosaries with me.
The World Mission Rosary began in 1951 when Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen invented a way to pray for the populated continents of the world using rosary beads with specific colors to represent them. Sheen asked the faithful to pray the World Mission Rosary for missionaries and the people they accompany on their faith journeys on each continent.
The idea of this rosary has traveled the world, too. I've witnessed its use and participated in spreading its story as I travel, often wearing it as a sign of my faith.
While in Australia for the Extraordinary Mission Month of October 2019, I was invited to speak in schools and parishes, nursery schools and nursing homes, and at breakfasts and luncheons. Each time, I asked people to pray for the missions using the World Mission Rosary.
Although I carry as many as I can, it's impossible to have beads for all the people I meet, so I invite them to memorize the colors and areas that they represent:
Green is for the forests and grasslands of Africa.
Red is for the fire of the faith brought to the Americas, North and South, by missionaries.
White is for Europe, home of the Holy Father.
Blue is for Oceania, the location of so many Pacific island countries.
Yellow is for Asia, where the sun rises first in the east.
When I explain the World Mission Rosary, I tell listeners that because there are so many people praying on these precious beads worldwide, new users are already being remembered in prayer. Sometimes, after the description, a person will pull out their own well-used World Mission Rosary, smiling as they do. I was once welcomed by a very excited child in a Ugandan village who shouted, "You're the RED BEADS!" It was the best greeting ever!
This universal prayer experience happened again in the Diocese of Mendi, Papua New Guinea, where I travelled after my Australian Mission Month. I spoke to a group of "Papas": older men active in the Church who had gathered for a weekend retreat. To everyone's surprise but mine, one of the men reached into his pocket and pulled out his World Mission Rosary. He had been praying for me -- and for all of you -- long before I met him.
Join us in praying for the spread of the Gospel to the ends of the earth -- pray the World Mission Rosary!

- Maureen Crowley Heil is Director of Programs and Development for the Pontifical Mission Societies, Boston.