May 14, 2008 / 15:20 pm
Pope Benedict XVI has decreed an indulgence for Catholics in Hong Kong who join a novena to Our Lady, Help of Christians asking for special prayers for the Church in China.
The novena is a response to the Pope’s call for May 24 to become a World Day for Prayer for the Church in China. He announced the day of prayer in his June 2007 letter to mainland Catholics and asked that it be dedicated to “the liturgical memorial of Our Lady, Help of Christians, who is venerated with great devotion at the Marian Shrine of Sheshan in Shanghai.”