New Mysteries Kick off a Year of the Rosary

VATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II celebrated his 24th anniversary as Pope by signing a new apostolic letter, "The Rosary of the Virgin Mary," (Rosarium Virginis Mariae), in which he announced a "Year of the Rosary" and added five new decades, called the "mysteries of light" or "luminous mysteries."

... The five luminous mysteries of Christ's life are:  "(1) his baptism in the Jordan, (2) his self-manifestation at the wedding of Cana, (3) his reclamation of the Kingdom of God and his call to conversion, (4) his Transfiguration, and finally (5) his institution of the Eucharist at the sacramental expression of the Paschal Mystery."

These mysteries broaden the Rosary to "include the mysteries of Christ's public ministry between his baptism and his passion."

Father Raymond J. deSouza writes from Rome