Rosary led at St. Peter's Square May 6. Credit: CatholicVote (McKenna Snow)
VATICAN CITY // Mexican actor Eduardo Verástegui has been leading the rosary in the afternoon at St. Peter’s Square since May 4, livestreaming the prayers on his social media accounts that have over a million followers.
Verástegui starred in the 2023 film Sound of Freedom and is currently the president of Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Mexico. On Instagram, he has 1 million followers, and on Facebook has 2.1 million. He has led rosaries in different locations over social media livestream since the COVID-19 pandemic.
After the May 6 rosary had concluded, Verástegui told CatholicVote about what drew him to pray the rosary in the Square. He said that he attended Pope Francis’ funeral, which was on April 26, and afterward was reflecting on what Catholics can do ahead of the conclave to pray for the next pope.
Last week in Rome, Verástegui explained, he was telling his friends about how he leads the Rosary on social media when he suddenly felt inspired to visit St. Peter’s Square.
“I said, ‘You know what? Hold on a second. We’re here. There’s nothing more powerful that we can do than to pray,’” Verastegui said, adding that he wouldn’t be praying alone but with hundreds of thousands of people, using technology. So he planned a rosary for the next day and has returned throughout this week.
He shared that on the first day of the conclave he would be fasting as well and that he asks all Catholics to also pray and fast for the new pope.
“I pray for each cardinal to empty themselves so the Holy Spirit can guide them and vote for the pope that God wants us to have,” Verástegui said, “and then after that, we have to pray for the pope,” under the new name he has chosen.