In October 2002, Pope John Paul II added a fourth group of Mysteries to the Rosary, the "Mysteries of Light." Contrary to his usual emphasis on Mary, he devoted these mysteries solely to Jesus Christ. They are His Baptism, turning the water into wine at Cana, His proclamation of the kingdom of heaven, His Transfiguration and the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper.
In Our Sunday Visitor's magazine The Pope Speaks, John Paul II designated October 2002 to October 2003 the Year of the Rosary. In a lengthy message about the Rosary, he concludes thus:
"At the start of the 25th year of my pontificate, I entrust this apostolic letter to the loving hands of the Virgin Mary, prostrating myself in spirit before her image in the splendid shrine built for her by Blessed Bartolo Longo, the apostle of the Rosary. I willingly make my own the touching words with which he concluded his well-known Supplication to the Queen of the Holy Rosary:
"O Blessed Rosary of Mary, sweet chain that unites us to God, bond of love that unites us to the angels, tower of salvation against the assaults of hell, safe port in our universal shipwreck, we will never abandon you. You will be our comfort in the hour of death: yours our final kiss as life ebbs away. And the last word from our lips will be your sweet name, O Queen of the Rosary of Pompei, O dearest Mother, O Refuge of Sinners, O Sovereign Consoler of the Afflicted. May you be everywhere blessed, today and always, on earth and in heaven."
The Supplication to the Queen of the Holy Rosary was composed by Blessed Bartolo Longo in 1883 in response to the appeal of Pope Leo XIII, made in his first encyclical on the Rosary, for the spiritual commitment of all Catholics in combating social ills. It is solemnly recited twice yearly, in May and October.
(And they say Catholicism has changed!)