Want to Pray With Pope Francis? Now There’s an App for That

Click to Pray unites us in prayer can help to establish a rhythm of prayer in our lives

The pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network (known better as the Apostleship of Prayer) has found a new way to encourage people to pray for the Pope’s monthly prayer intentions.

It’s an app.

Click to Pray was launched at the Vatican on Friday, allowing millions of people around the world from different cultures and languages to pray for the challenges confronting humanity today.

“Click to Pray invites men and women around the world to accompany Pope Francis in a new digital way, with the hope that the continents unite in prayer for the great challenges of the world and the mission of the Church as expressed in the pope’s intentions,” said Father Frédéric Fornos, SJ, international director of the pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network.

Click to Pray sends users notifications on the World Day of Prayer (first Friday of each month) and proposes a rhythm of prayer three times a day: morning, daytime and evening. With this release, Pope Francis seeks to promote the spirit of dialogue and interaction so that each user of Click to Pray can join thousands of people praying for his and their own intentions.

The vision of the Apostleship of Prayer is to encourage people to be apostles in daily life through a spiritual path called “The Way of the Heart,” which transforms our way of serving Christ’s mission. The Apostleship of Prayer was founded in 1844, is present in more than 100 countries and is made up of more than 35 million people, including its youth branch, the Eucharistic Youth Movement.

Developed, designed and distributed by La Machi, a communication agency promoting good causes, the Click to Pray app is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French in both Android and iOS formats.

An initial version of Click to Pray launched in 2014 in Portugal at the initiative of that country’s office of the Apostleship of Prayer. That version, which immediately created a community of 87,000 people in 138 countries, set the stage to globalize the project.

The app’s launch on Friday marks the second innovation this year related to the pope’s prayer intentions. In January, the Vatican released the first video in which the pope shared his monthly prayer intentions video message. The videos will be available on YouTube as well as on social media sites including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.