The Hail Mary repeated in the Holy Rosary is an act of love. Is it not characteristic of love to repeat, without tiring: “I love you”? An act of love which, through the beads of the rosary, as is clearly seen in the Marian painting in this Shrine, leads us back to Jesus and brings us to the Eucharist, “the fount and apex of the whole Christian life”. Saint Bartolo Longo was convinced of this when he wrote: “The Eucharist is the living Rosary, and all the mysteries are found in the Holy Sacrament in an active and vital form”. He was right. In the Eucharist, the mysteries of Christ’s life are all found, so to speak, concentrated in the memorial of His sacrifice and in His real presence. The Rosary has a Marian character, but a Christological and Eucharistic heart. If the Liturgy of the Hours marks the rhythm of the Church’s praise, the Rosary marks the rhythm of our life, continually bringing it back to Jesus and the Eucharist.

Leo XIV