Togo’s Catholic Bishops Call for Renewed Prayers “without ceasing” for Nation During Rosary Month

Lome, 05 October, 2025 / 9:23 PM

Members of the Episcopal Conference of Togo (CET) have urged the people of God to intensify prayers for the country during October, the month of the Holy Rosary, highlighting the power of Mary’s intercession in guiding the nation through present challenges.

In a statement shared with ACI Africa on Tuesday, October 2, CET members encourage Christians to “rediscover the power of the maternal intercession of the Virgin Mary” and to take up the Rosary as a “simple yet powerful prayer” that strengthens faith and offers hope.

“Today more than ever, our nation, Togo, needs intense, sincere, fervent, and persevering prayers. The many social, political, and economic challenges our country faces, and the tensions that have built up, should not plunge us into despair nor darken our horizons of well-being, peace, and joy,” the Catholic Bishops say in the statement dated Wednesday, October 1.

Urging the people of God to “pray without ceasing,” CET members note that “this is not just advice but a way of life.”

“To pray without ceasing means keeping the heart turned to God in all circumstances; it means allowing grace to irrigate our minds, our personal lives, those of our families, our communities, and our entire nation,” they add.

In the statement that their president, Bishop Benoît Alowonou of Kpalimé Diocese, signed, the Catholic Church leaders further say, “October, the month of the Rosary, opens before us as an urgent call to rekindle our faith and our life of prayer with Mary.” 

“The Rosary is a simple yet powerful prayer: it brightens our nights with hope, strengthens our steps in trials, and opens a better future under God’s gaze. Each decade of the Rosary is a window open to a mystery of Jesus’ life: his humble birth, his radiant mission, his redeeming passion, his Paschal glory,” CET members say.

The Catholic Bishops further say, “With renewed trust in God, the Lord of history, who holds the hearts of men in His hands and safeguards the rights of peoples, let us intensify, Brothers and Sisters, our prayer for our country—not as a mechanical repetition, but as a vital breath.”

They say each ‘Hail Mary’ is a “seed of love and peace planted in the field of our history. The Lord, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, will turn our tears into joy and our uncertainties into hope.”

CET members encourage both personal and communal prayer, saying, “Let us ask God to bless our country, Togo, to grant us the grace of sincere conversion, and to open paths toward a better future for all.”

They implore, “Holy Virgin Mary, Mediatrix of all graces and Queen of Peace, we come to you with confidence. Intercede for us with your beloved Son, our Savior. Make our hearts docile to the Holy Spirit, and make our lives instruments of justice and peace. Most loving Mother, keep our families, our country, Togo, and the whole world in the love of God and the light of the Gospel. Amen.”