The head of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network offers a look behind the scenes.
Leo XIV records his “Pray with the Pope” video each month, but how does he choose the intentions he wants the Church to pray for?
“They’re absolutely the pope’s intentions; however, he does it in a very synodal way,” after gathering input from many sources, Father Cristóbal Fones, SJ, international director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network (PWPN), told EWTN News.
The prayer network, established as a Vatican entity by Pope Francis in 2018, recently undertook a lengthy consultation process with its national directors in 94 countries and members of the Roman Curia.
“Last year, we received about 300 proposals in different languages,” Fones said. “We categorized them, we summarized them, and then the [prayer network’s] international office proposed 16 of them to the pope to facilitate his work.”
“In December, I passed him these 16 proposals … he put another one that wasn’t part of the [original] proposals and changed the order,” he continued.
“He’s quite involved in this process. For him it is critical,” he said.
Every month, Pope Leo records three versions — English, Italian, and Spanish — of his monthly prayer intention.
“It’s a lot of work,” the PWPN director told EWTN News. “He’s committed to this because he knows it is important and because he wants to pray with people.”
According to Fones, Pope Leo is continuing the tradition of Pope Francis, who recorded the first video of the monthly intentions in 2016, but the current pope has put his own stamp on the practice.
“[Pope Leo] wanted to invite people not only to pray for the intention but to pray with him,” he said. “So he wanted a video where he was praying and people could join him.”
“He’s teaching us how to pray at the same time,” Fones said, “by saying ‘hello’ to the Lord, pausing a little bit, and meaning every single word.”
Fones said Pope Leo asked the global network to help people cultivate a “friendship” with God through the various multimedia resources they offer.
“He said to me, ‘Please teach people how to pray,’” Fones said. “He’s very conscious that we may be Catholics but not have this kind of relationship with Jesus.”
“Prayer is not something that we do or something that we say, but it’s a relationship that we build up — not with something — but with someone,” he added.
In addition to the “Pray with the Pope” campaign, the Vatican foundation also offers a nine-step spirituality program called “Way of the Heart.”
At Leo’s request, PWPN launched the “Pray with the Pope” campaign in January with the desire to teach people “intercessory prayer” that is focused on “Christ and the challenges of humanity.”
“The closer we are to the heart of Jesus, the closer we are to the pains and sufferings of the world who are at the core of his heart,” Fones said.
“The important thing is to be compassionate with so many challenges we are facing around the world, very critical, that obviously are in the heart of the pope, as [they are] in the heart of so many people who are suffering those problems, and … certainly in the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ,” he said.
This article was originally published by EWTN News English.
