The two-mile rosary procession, drawing participants from diverse ages and backgrounds, began at Westminster Cathedral and concluded at the Brompton Oratory
Newsroom (15/10/2025, Gaudium Press ) In a striking display of public devotion amid a bustling metropolis, at least 2,000 Catholics marched through the streets of central London on Saturday for the 40th annual Rosary Crusade of Reparation, an event inspired by the 1917 Fatima apparitions. Organizers hailed the turnout as evidence of a budding revival in England’s Catholic faith, particularly among the young.
The two-mile procession, drawing participants from diverse ages and backgrounds, began at Westminster Cathedral and concluded at the Brompton Oratory in Knightsbridge. Marchers prayed the Rosary aloud, sang traditional hymns, and carried banners honoring the Immaculate Heart of Mary, weaving through affluent neighborhoods like Belgravia where onlookers paused to watch and record the spectacle on their phones.
This year’s crusade coincided with the Feast of the Divine Maternity of Mary, established in 1931 by Pope Pius XI, and aligned with a global Jubilee of Marian Spirituality led by Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter’s Square, where thousands prayed the Rosary for world peace. Held on the Saturday nearest October 13—the anniversary of the final Fatima apparition where the Virgin Mary urged daily Rosary prayer for peace and conversion—the event emphasized reparation for sins against her Immaculate Heart.
Father Ronald Creighton-Jobe, an Oratorian priest and the crusade’s spiritual director for over 25 years, welcomed pilgrims at the Oratory. He framed the devotion as essential in turbulent times, calling for amends “for the many sins and scandals rampant in the world today” and specifically “for the sins of the English Reformation which force so many souls from God.”
Invoking ongoing global crises, Father Creighton-Jobe referenced “terrible conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine” and condemned recent U.K. parliamentary actions, including votes to decriminalize abortion up to birth in England and Wales, as well as pending legislation on assisted suicide. “Pray very hard for conversion, the conversion of this country, and also for our own conversion, that it may continue with the grace of God,” he urged.
Abbot Cuthbert Brogan, superior of the Benedictine St. Michael’s Abbey in Farnborough, addressed the crowd on Mary’s role as intercessor for peace. “She is our mother, the mother of the Church, and as our mother she is never far from us, to protect and to support,” he said. “Jesus is the door, and Mary is the key to that door.”
Drawing from St. Jacob of Serugh, a 6th-century Syriac theologian, Abbot Brogan described Mary as a “ship which the Father has filled with treasures and pushed out towards our shores”—a vessel of spiritual riches offering salvation through her son. “What a wonderful meditation that is, on the Feast of the Maternity of Mary,” he noted.
Participants echoed the theme of urgent reparation. Antonia Moffatt, a representative for EWTN Great Britain, told reporters that such prayer “is ever more needed” amid visible and hidden outrages. “What we witness on TV screens is almost beyond belief, and yet what is hidden from us is even more colossal: the outrages, sacrileges and indifference towards God, the Holy Eucharist, the Church, life from its very beginnings,” she said, referencing Fatima’s warnings now “constant and widespread throughout Christendom.” She praised the crusade as a “great communal act of reparation.”
Peter Williams, a Brother of the Little Oratory and longtime participant, described the event as “a particularly wonderful and unifying way of expressing love for Our Lady and for expressing our faith to the people of London.” He highlighted its role as a “yearly witness” to passers-by, noting the route’s showcase of Catholic heritage sites. “No one has ever heckled for as long as I can remember,” Williams added. “It’s always been, ‘Oh wow, what’s this?’”
The procession attracted respectful curiosity from bystanders in one of London’s wealthiest districts, with no reported disruptions. Abbot Brogan pointed to the crowd size as “evidence of what the press have been telling us: that there’s something of a revival of our Catholic faith amongst the people of our land, and particularly among young people.” He commended the involvement of scouts, religious orders like the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, Missionaries of Charity, Benedictines, Order of Malta, and Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter.
The event culminated inside the Oratory with the procession of a statue of Our Lady of Fatima, followed by Eucharistic Adoration and Benediction. As England grapples with secular shifts and moral debates, organizers see the crusade not just as tradition, but as a beacon of renewed piety in a historically Protestant nation.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from NCR online
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