Pope Francis has proposed that on Wednesday 25 March “the Heads of the Churches and the leaders of every Christian community, together with all Christians of the various confessions” might “invoke the Almighty, the omnipotent God, to recite at the same time the prayer that Jesus, Our Lord, taught us” – the Our Father. The time he has proposed is 12 noon (Italian time), that would be 11 am here in Ireland.

In announcing this initiative Pope Francis commented, “On that day on which many Christians recall the annunciation to the Virgin Mary of the Incarnation of the Word, may the Lord listen to the united prayer of all of His disciples who are preparing themselves to celebrate the victory of the Risen Christ.”

Irish Inter–Church Committee co–chair Bishop Brendan Leahy commends the initiative to church leaders and all Christians in Ireland, saying

“The beauty of this initiative is its simplicity. Wherever we are, either individually or as a family at home, we can take a moment at 11 o’clock on Wednesday to say this “Our Father” prayer either aloud or in the silence of our heart. And it’ll be great to think we’re part of a worldwide chorus of prayer at that moment reaching God together. And it’ll remind us we all have one Father and we are all children of the one God so sisters and brothers to one another. It’ll be a time to decide again to re–double our efforts to do all we can to follow guidelines and stop the coronavirus growing”.