Pope’s prayer intention for August: “For small and medium-sized businesses”

Pope Francis announced the prayer intention for August on Tuesday in a video on Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network.

Pope Francis invited all to pray for the small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) so that they may continue to work and serve their community.

“Without them [SMEs], it would not have been possible to make it through the COVID crisis, and they continue to be necessary now.”

The Holy Father acknowledged the “courage, effort, and sacrifice” of MSEs in fulfilling their social responsibilities even amidst “the grave socio-economic crisis” due to wars and the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The World Bank’s statistics for 2021 reported that one in four companies lost half their sales due to the global pandemic.

The pope invited all to pray “for small and medium-sized businesses, hard hit by the economic and social crisis, so they may find ways to continue operating, and serving their communities.”

Father Federic Fornos SJ, the International Director of the Pope's Worldwide Network, observed that the crises were an opportunity to build something different. In this sense, small and medium-sized businesses are greatly important with their creativity and their capacity for solutions.

The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network is founded by the Vatican in 1844. Its mission is to mobilize Catholics through prayer and action in response to the challenges facing humanity and the mission of the Church.

It is present in 89 countries and have more than 22 million Catholics as members.

Pope’s monthly prayer intentions are made public through The Pope Video, an official global project.

                        With the inputs from Vatican News