World Day of Prayer for China

Last year in his letter of 27 May 2007, Holy Father Benedict asked all Christians to pray for Church in China on 24 May 2008, which is the feast of Mary, Help of Christians. The day commemorates the return of the Pope Pius VII to Rome after being abducted, held prisoner, and tortured by Napoleon.

The day was suitable because of the captivity in which so much of the Church in China is kept by its government.

After the recent catastrophes there, and the Church's attempt to respond vigorously, it seems all the more imperative that we pray not only for the Church there, but for the whole nation.

Mary, Help of Christians, pray for us.