2,000 Join Rosary Crusade Through Streets of London

Annual Fatima-inspired procession draws a large crowd as organizers see signs of renewed devotion across England.

At least 2,000 faithful participated in an annual London Rosary Crusade of Reparation on Saturday — a notably large gathering that organizers hope reflects a fledgling revival of faith in England.

Participants of all ages and backgrounds prayed the Rosary and sang hymns along the two-mile procession from Westminster Cathedral to the London Brompton Oratory.

This year marked the 40th annual Crusade in reparation for sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Inspired by the apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima in 1917 and her request that the faithful pray the Rosary daily for peace and conversion, the procession has always taken place on the Saturday closest to October 13, which marks the anniversary of the final apparition at Fatima.

This year, the Crusade fell on the same day as the Feast of the Divine Maternity that was instituted in 1931 by Pope Pius XI. It also took place on the same Saturday that Pope Leo XIV led the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality in St. Peter’s Square, in which the faithful prayed the Rosary for peace.

Welcoming the pilgrims to the Brompton Oratory, Oratorian Father Ronald Creighton-Jobe, who has served as the spiritual director of the Crusade for more than 25 years, underscored the importance of the devotion and its purpose in making reparation for blasphemies against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

He stressed its particular importance at this juncture in history, as reparation “for the many sins and scandals rampant in the world today,” and “for the sins of the English Reformation which force so many souls from God.”

He recalled the “terrible conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine” and the need to make reparation for the “bills and amendments in parliament which are anti-life and against God’s law” — a reference to lawmakers in England and Wales who recently voted to decriminalize abortion up to birth, and who are trying to bring in legislation to allow 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,” Father Creighton-Jobe said.

In his address to the pilgrims, Abbot Cuthbert Brogan of the Benedictine monastery of St. Michael’s Abbey in Farnborough spoke of the crucial importance of the Blessed Virgin’s intercessions for peace in the world. He stressed that Mary “is our mother, the mother of the Church, and as our mother she is never far from us, to protect and to support. Jesus is the door, and Mary is the key to that door.”

Quoting the great 6th-century Syriac father, St. Jacob of Serugh, he added: “Mary is a ‘ship’ which the Father has filled with treasures and pushed out towards our shores” — meaning she is a source of spiritual treasures for the world, a secure harbor, and a vessel that provides life and salvation through her son.

“What a wonderful meditation that is, on the Feast of the Maternity of Mary,” he said.

Procession participant Antonia Moffatt of EWTN Great Britain said the prayer of reparation “is ever more needed” today, adding it is “almost beyond belief what we witness on TV screens, 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, etc, which Our Blessed Lady spoke about in Fatima, are constant and widespread throughout Christendom.”

“The annual Rosary Crusade of Reparation is a means of focusing on all this in a great communal act of reparation,” she said.

Peter Williams, a Brother of the Little Oratory who for several years has also participated in the procession, told the Register that the Rosary Crusade “is a particularly wonderful and unifying way of expressing love for Our Lady and for expressing our faith to the people of London.”’

“This is a yearly witness to everyone who sees us going past and a wonderful means by which we get to express our faith, celebrate Our Lady, and enjoy the beauty of our heritage which includes not only Westminster Cathedral but also the beauty of the London Oratory,” he said.

Many passers-by could be seen showing a respectful and curious interest in the public devotional event, using their phones to capture the procession as it weaved its way through Belgravia and Knightsbridge, some of the wealthiest parts of London. “No one has ever heckled for as long as I can remember,” said Williams. “It’s always been, ‘Oh wow, what’s this?’”

Noting the large number of participants, Abbot Brogan said it was “wonderful today to witness and see evidence of what the press have been telling us in recent times: that there’s something of a revival of our Catholic faith amongst the people of our land, and particularly among young people.”

He also welcomed the participation of scouts and religious communities, singling out the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, the Missionaries of Charity, the Benedictines, as well as the Order of Malta, and the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter.

“It’s a wonderful thing,” he said.