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Poland – On 7 October, more than a million Poles prayed for peace, against the “Islamization of Europe”, and so that other European nations understand the need to get back to their Christian roots.

The initiative of this spiritual event belongs to lay organizers, supported however by the Church. The chosen day is highly symbolic: it is the celebration of Our Lady of the Rosary, established after the battle of Lepanto where the fleet of the Holy League formed at the initiative of Pope Pius V prevailed on the Ottoman fleet, thus saving Europe from Islamization. To obtain victory, Pius V had called on Christians to recite the Rosary day and night to ask for the intercession of the Virgin Mary.

The Bishops of Poland called on the faithful of the Church to join the event, which has been a great success. On rivers and on mountain tops, along the 3.511km of land borders of Poland, but also in airports, on Polish ships or in many places where Polish emigrants are found, Polish Catholics prayed altogether to preserve Europe from Islamization and hoped “to influence the destiny of Poland, Europe and even the whole world”, one can read on the website dedicated to the religious event.

The Archbishop of Krakow, Marek Jędraszewski, said during a mass broadcasted on the Catholic radio Radio Maryja that he prays in particular “for other European nations, so that they understand that it is necessary to return to the Christian roots, and that Europe remains Europe”.

Poland, with 38 million inhabitants, including about 33 million Catholics, of whom 39% are regular practitioners, remains the most Catholic country in Europe.