Millions of Christians worldwide can now join in prayer with the Pope via a new app, Click To Pray.
The app invites users to pray with Jesus in the morning, in the afternoon or in the evening. Prayers are based on the monthly prayer intentions of Pope Francis which address current challenges facing humanity, such as children and families in difficulty.
The application allows users to ask others for prayer, prompts users to pray for others and lets users know the monthly prayer intentions of Pope Francis, Vatican Radio reported.
The app was originally launched in November 2014 by the Apostleship of Prayer in Portugal to help young people pray with the Pope.
It became so successful with more than 80,000 users that today it went global across 100 countries.
It is available now in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese for iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. The target user group has also moved from just young people to Christians of all ages.
The app promotes prayer three times a day.
In the morning, users pray "with Jesus" and entrust their lives to God in communion with the Church. At noon, they pray to be more open to the Holy Spirit. At the end of the day, they pray to be available for the mission of Christ.
Users can also compose prayers and ask others to unite with them in prayer.
Pope Francis said he was "pleased" with the effort and "encouraged" that in the Year of Mercy the prayer network will help all Catholics to pray in communion.
