WHEN Pope John Paul II revived the Rosary in 2003, it was not out of a sense of nostalgia.

He was calling the Church to arms, to take up the spiritual and material battle raging within and from without the Church. He was urging us to call upon the greatest of intercessors–Jesus’ Mother–to come to our assistance. As one priest said, “Mary is a lady… but she wears combat boots.” Indeed, in Genesis, it is her heel which will crush the serpent’s head.

The grave challenges confronting the world at the start of this new Millennium lead us to think that only an intervention from on high… can give reason to hope for a brighter future…. The Church has always attributed particular efficacy to this prayer, entrusting to the Rosary… the most difficult problems. At times when Christianity itself seemed under threat, its deliverance was attributed to the power of this prayer, and Our Lady of the Rosary was acclaimed as the one whose intercession brought salvation. –John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae; 40, 39