ACI Prensa Staff, Feb 14, 2024 / 18:00 pm (CNA).

The DeClausura Foundation in Spain has launched a campaign to promote prayer during the liturgical season of Lent with the theme “Slow Down. Stop. Pray” as part of the Year of Prayer declared by Pope Francis.

To help people draw closer to God during Lent, close to 100 convents and cloistered monasteries throughout Spain will open the doors of their churches on the third Thursday of Lent, March 7, at 7 p.m.

It will be a special opportunity for the faithful to join in the communal prayers of various cloistered communities in almost all Spanish provinces.

The religious orders participating include the Poor Clares, Franciscan Conceptionists, Carmelites of the Ancient Observance, Discalced Carmelites, Augustinians, Colettine Poor Clares, Cistercians, Brigettines, Benedictines, Canonesses, Visitation Sisters, Dominicans, Mercedarians, Jeronimites, and Comendadoras de Santiago.

The complete list of monasteries and convents that are participating in this unique opportunity can be found on the DeClausura Foundation website.

To promote this initiative, the DeClausura Foundation has produced a video in which members of four participating communities (Benedictines, Augustinians, Camaldolese, and Cistercians) pray the Lord’s Prayer in their own particular way, representing the more than 8,000 religious living in cloistered communities in Spain.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.