Pope plans makeover for the rosary

The Pope is today to give the rosary - the most distinctive prayer tool in Catholicism - its first makeover for 900 years in his latest attempt to increase the devotions of the faithful.

An announcement from the Vatican is expected to approve the addition of five extra prayer cycles to the loop of beads traditionally carried particularly by Catholics.

Each bead represents a prayer. They are currently gathered in 15 groups - 10 Hail Marys, the Lord's Prayer and the Gloria Patri recited for each section, based on meditations of the so-called joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries drawn from episodes in the life of Christ.

The formula, originally ascribed, probably wrongly, to St Dominic, the 13th century Spanish monk and founder of the Dominican order, appears to have been adopted originally as a tactical weapon in Rome's fight against the Albigensian heresy in southern France.

The Pope's plan seems to be to add the "mysteries of light" to the others, though which particular episodes the faithful will be asked to contemplate as they pray remains to be seen.

"The list is likely to include the coming of the Magi, the baptism of Christ, the miracle at Cana, the transfiguration and the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper," said Farley Clinton, an American writer and observer of the Vatican.

The rosary has traditionally been used by the church at moments when it perceives itself under threat - against the French heretics, to pray for victory over the Turks at the battle of Lepanto in 1571 and at Fatima in Portugal during the first world war, when the Virgin Mary was said to have appeared to three shepherd children.

It is thought that the Pope may be adopting the idea of a Maltese priest, Father George Preca, a candidate for sainthood, who proposed adding extra decades to the rosary nearly 50 years ago.

Although the rosary has fallen into some disuse particularly in the west, the Pope appears to be keen to restore it to devotions. It seems to be his latest effort to repel the tide of modern life and restore some of the simpler verities of the past. John Paul II certainly uses his rosary every day and in 1995 even recorded a disc in which he recited the prayers in Latin.

John Wilkins, editor of the Catholic weekly the Tablet said: "This Pope is a very remarkable praying man. It is something everybody notes about him. He prays on every occasion."

Whether the change will inspire new devotions among lay Catholics and encourage them to take up their beads again in order to recite even more prayers must be open to some doubt.

"Most lay people don't know about meditation anyway. What harm could it possibly do to encourage people to meditate on these things," said Mr Clinton.