In an era in which applications of mindfulness Smart phones dominate and meditation studies proliferate in urban corners, a new and revolutionary international study suggests that the ancient Catholic practice of praying the rosary can offer benefits for mental health comparable to meditation techniques of oriental inspiration.
The investigation, published in the Journal of Religion and Healthalso challenges assumptions about traditional practices such as the Rosary, revealing surprising findings about who really pray in 2025.
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Researchers from Italy, Poland and Spain surveyed 361 practicing Catholics to assess the impact of praying the rosary on well -being and mental health. They discovered that participants who prayed the Rosary reported higher levels of well -being, greater empathy and significantly lower levels of religious struggle or spiritual anxiety, benefits that research has also demonstrated can also derive from other meditation techniques.
The researchers also found that 62.2% of the participants had postgraduate or mastery titles, challenging the assumption – which some may have – that traditional Catholic devotions mainly attract people with lower educational level.
“We were surprised how this traditional practice transcends educational and generational barriers,” said the principal researcher, Fr. Lluis Oviedo, of the Pontifical University of Antonianum in Rome.
Fr. Oviedo told CNA – Ewtn News agency – that the study arose from the frustration that much of the investigation has focused on the benefits of the practice of the practice of the mindfulness And other meditation techniques, but practically nothing has been published about the Rosary, although it is clearly a form of meditation.
“Our team tried to explore if we could find similar benefits in this Catholic prayer to which they are attributed to more fashionable forms of meditation,” he said. “I was convinced that we would find positive results, since I knew from personal experience and for the testimonies of others what this prayer meant and what they experienced during it.”
Challenging stereotypes
The research revealed cultural variations between the three countries studied.
Poland showed the greatest commitment, with the participants obtaining a score of 3.70 in the frequency of the Rosario Practice (compared to 3.38 in Italy and 3.35 in Spain). This coincides with Poland’s reputation as one of the most religious nations in Europe, where Catholic traditions remain deeply rooted in the social fabric despite decades of communist repression.
Italy, despite housing the Vatican, showed more moderate levels of commitment. Italian participants reported the highest scores of empathy (4.31), suggesting that the benefits of practice extend beyond personal spirituality towards a greater social connection, a finding that resonates with Italian community culture.
Spain presented an interesting paradox: lower frequency in the practice of the rosary, but solid results of well -being among those who pray regularly. This can reflect the complex relationship of Spain with Catholicism, where traditional practices persist together with rapid secularization.
Connection with mental health
Perhaps the most striking finding of the study is how to praying the rosary works as an intervention for mental health.
The participants constantly reported that the practice provided them with “spiritual peace, calm and trust” (26.3%), helped “face problems” (10.2%) and offered “protection against evil” (8.6%).
A participant said: “Praying the rosary saved my life. After the death of my husband, I could not cope with the pain and emptiness. Every day I took the rosary and gave me strength to survive those difficult moments. Without him, I don’t know how I would have achieved it.”
The investigation also showed that praying the Rosary correlated positively with a reduction in depression and an increase in optimism about the future. These effects rival those reported in meditation studies mindfulnessbut sometimes high costs of meditation retreats or subscriptions to applications.
Why is it important
The implications of the study go far beyond Catholic communities. As mental health crises aggravates worldwide – special severity in the United States and Europe – research suggests that society could be overlooked accessible and culturally rooted resources for psychological well -being.
In the United States, where the well -being industry generates billions annually, the findings raise questions about the commercialization of spiritual practices. Why pay faces of meditation when a traditional practice offers similar benefits? The study also challenges the assumption that non -Christian oriental practices are superior to Western spiritual traditions.
For Germany, where both Catholic and Protestant traditions have molded culture but face a decreasing influence, research offers a possible bridge between secular approaches to mental health and traditional spiritualities. German Catholics could find validation by maintaining practices that are often discarded as outdated.
The implications for Poland are particularly significant. While the country navigates between its deep Catholic identity and the secularization pressures of the European Union, the study provides empirical support to the value of the rosary for mental health, which could influence both health policy and cultural debates.
In Italy, where Catholicism remains culturally significant despite the decrease in mass assistance, findings suggest that traditional practices such as the rosary could serve as accessible resources for mental health, especially for major populations that may feel less comfortable with secular therapy.
Breaking barriers
The researchers indicated a striking bias in academic literature: Pubmed contains 30,060 entries for “mindfulness“But only 13 for”rosary prayer”(Rosario prayer). This disparity reflects broader cultural prejudices that often discard western devotions as more primitive.
“From a purely cultural and phenomenological point of view, the mindfulness It is fashionable, it is glamorous, interesting, while the rosary is out, it is outdated, boring and uninteresting, ”the researchers observed. However, their data suggests that this perception has more to do with cultural fashion than with empirical reality.
Study networks analysis revealed that religiosity impacts well -being both directly and through two key paths: increasing empathy and reducing religious struggle. The repetitive nature of the rosary – symbilated to meditation with mantras – seems to create a meditative state that calms anxiety and promotes emotional regulation.
Interestingly, the practice was not associated with social isolation or mental closure, as some stereotypes suggest. On the contrary, higher levels of prayer of the Rosary were correlated with greater empathy, which suggests that it enhances, instead of decreasing, the social connection.
“One thing is safe: there is a division within the Catholic Church, and within other churches, between those who pray and adopt a devotional position, and those who interpret their Christian faith in terms of social conscience and commitment,” said Fr. Oviedo. “It is time to overcome this type of binary model and adopt a style that combines devotion and empathy towards others. A divorce between them makes the Christian message and the salvation we offer in Christ are less credible and effective.”
The power of repetitive prayer
While societies fight with epidemics of mental health, spiritual emptiness and the limitations of purely pharmaceutical approaches for psychological well -being, research suggests benefits of a more inclusive vision of contemplative practices. The accessibility of the Rosary – which only requires accounts and some time – makes it especially relevant to economically disadvantaged populations that cannot afford therapy or meditation classes.
The study does not advocate religious conversion or suggests that the rosary be superior to other practices. Rather, he argues in favor of recognizing the diversity of ways in which human beings face suffering and find meaning.
An researcher concluded: “We have a broader palette of spiritual or religious expressions with similar positive effects, and we can avoid certain almost spiritual monopolies and unilateral expressions in the usual accompaniment and care interventions.”
Long -term impact
Fr. Oviedo said it is too early to evaluate the reception of this study.
“I was quite surprised that there was media interest in this issue, since it has been neglected in many areas, even within Catholic circles,” he said. “The worst aspect is theological indifference or even hostility towards such devotional practices, which are considered alien to standard theology. The problem is deeper, and has to do with a theology unable to connect with believers in the way they live and express their faith.”
Fr. Oviedo said that Catholics need to develop a “lived theology”, or a “theology from below.”
“This theological approach requires that we pay more attention to how believers feel, how they experience their faith and how they perceive salvation in action,” he said. “In fact, many studies on religion, health, well -being and flowering are published every year, but almost no theologian pays them attention, although they reveal the positive effects of religious faith and intense religious practice, or how to recognize salvation as something real. The rosary is a good example of this and suggests a different approach to theology if we really want to make the Christian message more credible.”
Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in CNA.
Thomas Philipp Reiter
Thomas Philipp Reiter is a Belgian-German journalist resident in Brussels, specialized in reports from Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. He studied journalism, economics and political science in Hamburg, Germany. Since 1986, it covers European issues and publishes books on numerous German and Belgian themes. He is also known as radio and podcast presenter.