Question
Question
I hear that the pope just changed the rosary. What new?
--Really in Raleigh
Answer
Answer
On the 24th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's serving the church as supreme pontiff, October 16, 2002, he wrote an apostolic letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae (The rosary of the Virgin Mary). Not since the mid 1500s has their been a change. Pope Pius V standardized the other 15 mysteries of the rosary in 1569. Pope John Paul II added a new "mystery" to be said on Thursdays: the mysteries of light (Luminous). They are:
- Christ's baptism in the Jordan River
- Christ's self revelation at the marriage of Cana
- Christ's announcement of the kingdom of God with the invitation to conversion
- Christ's Transfiguration, when he revealed ihs glory to his Apostles.
- The institution of the eucharist at the Last Supper as the sacramental expression of the paschal mystery.