'Austria prays': A nation turns to the rosary for an end to the pandemic

A statue of the Virgin Mary outside the Pfarrkirche St. Alban in Matrei in Osttirol, Austria. / josefkubes via Shutterstock.Markt Piesting, Austria, Dec 16, 2021 / 04:00 am (CNA).As Austria battles a new wave of COVID-19 infections, an initiative promoting the rosary for an end to the pandemic is taking off. Last week alone, more than a thousand people prayed the rosary together at several hundred locations across the Central European country. Now, the prayer movement known as "Austria prays" is spreading to Germany, Switzerland, and other countries including the United States, reports CNA Deutsch, CNA's German-language news partner. Louis-Pierre Laroche, the initiative's creator, came up with the idea after repeatedly hearing the phrase "Now only prayer will help" in conversations following the outbreak of the pandemic.In an interview on the movement's website, he said he wasn't surprised by the initiative's rapid growth. He explained that, apart from spending half an hour dra...

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