From St. Peter's Basilica in Rome today, Friday 25 March starting at 17 pm, the act of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Russia and Ukraine will be broadcast live. To strongly want the consecration for the two nations at war is Pope Francis. The Holy Father who invited all the bishops and priests of the world to join him in the consecration and in the prayer for peace. Naturally, the invitation is extended to all the faithful and to those who want to pray for the bloody conflict to end as soon as possible. The war, in just over a month, has already devastated Ukraine with thousands of victims and enormous material damage.
The consecration
The pontiff will give life to the act of consecration during the celebration of Penance. In the letter of invitation to the bishops, Pope Bergoglio writes: “The war in Ukraine is causing more terrible suffering to that tormented population every day, threatening even world peace. The Church, in this dark hour, is strongly called to intercede with the Prince of Peace and to draw close to those who pay for the consequences of the conflict. I am grateful to all those who are responding with great generosity to my appeals to prayer, fasting and charity. Consecration is meant to be a gesture of the universal Church, which in this dramatic moment brings to God, through her Mother and ours, the cry of pain of those who suffer and implore an end to violence. And he entrusts the future of humanity to the Queen of Peace ”.
The whole world in prayer for peace
Il Pope will say the prayer this afternoon, feast of the Annunciation. The same act, the same day, therefore, will be performed by all the bishops, priests and believers who are in every corner of the planet. The cardinal Konrad Krajewski, pontifical almsgiver, as envoy of the Pope, will make the consecration to the sanctuary of the Our Lady of Fatima. This, because according to historical and ecclesial sources, Our Lady, in the apparition of July 13, 1917 in Fatima, had asked for the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart. The Virgin stated that, if this request were not granted, Russia would spread “her errors throughout the world, promoting wars and persecutions of the Church. The good - she added - will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be destroyed ”.
