Americans Offering More Than 1M Prayers for Pope

MANASSAS, Virginia, JULY 20, 2010 (Zenit.org).- A "spiritual bouquet" campaign collected more than 1 million prayers for Benedict XVI, which have been delivered to the Vatican, according to the apostolic nuncio in the United States.

The spiritual bouquet -- a pledge to offer a certain number of prayers for a specified intention -- was sponsored by the Cardinal Newman Society.

It responded to a call from Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, who on Palm Sunday, at the height of the media attacks on the Pope this year, urged prayers for Benedict XVI.

The campaign to collect the pledges began on Wednesday of Holy Week and concluded on Pentecost Sunday.

Among the prayers in the bouquet were 24,714 Masses offered by priests, 31,847 days of fasting and 44,357 Eucharistic Holy Hours.