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Theconsecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by a reigningpope was requested during aMarian apparition byOur Lady of Fátima on 13 July 1917, according to Lúcia dos Santos (Sister Lúcia), one of the three visionaries who claimed to have seen the apparition. Sister Lucia said that at different times theBlessed Virgin Mary had given her a message of promise that theconsecration of Russia to theImmaculate Heart of Mary would usher in a period ofworld peace.
PopesPius XII,Paul VI andJohn Paul II all consecrated Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, although without specifically referencing Russia or the USSR. On March 25, 2022,Pope Francis consecrated Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, alongside Ukraine, with both countries mentioned for the first time. This occurred during theRussian invasion of Ukraine.[1]
According toSister Lúcia, the Virgin Mary requested the consecration of Russia to herImmaculate Heart both at Fatima in 1917 and, later, more explicitly at Pontevedra in 1929.[2]
In two letters she sent in May 1930 to Father Gonçalves, her confessor, Sister Lúcia linked the consecration of Russia with theDevotion of the Five First Saturdays, which she had first discussed in context of the apparitions she had purportedly experienced previously as a postulant atPontevedra in 1925. The Church has issued no decision regarding the reported visions at Pontevedra.[3] In August 1941, Sister Lúcia wrote her memoir in which she described the apparition of 13 July 1917. She said that theBlessed Virgin Mary told them:[4]
"God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The [First World] war is going to end; if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the communion of reparation on the first Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace. If not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world."
Some Catholics who support the position of the Catholic Church claim that the apparitions at Fátima took place after theFebruary Revolution of 1917 that deposed Tsar Nicholas II from power and the April 16 return ofVladimir Lenin to Russia.[5]
The alleged message given by the Virgin Mary at Fatima is considered aprivate revelation.[6]
The teaching of the Roman Catholic Church distinguishes between "public Revelation" and "private revelations". The term "public Revelation" finds its literary expression in theBible and "reached its fulfilment in thelife,death andresurrection ofJesus Christ".[7] In this regard,Catechism of the Catholic Church quotesJohn of the Cross:
"In giving us his Son, his only Word (for he possesses no other), he spoke everything to us at once in this sole Word—and he has no more to say... Any person questioning God or desiring some vision or revelation would be guilty not only of foolish behavior but also of offending him, by not fixing his eyes entirely upon Christ and by living with the desire for some other novelty."[8]
In 1942,Pope Pius XII consecrated the whole of humanity, which implicitly included Russia but not by name, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This consecration was made in the context of the reported messages from Jesus and the Virgin Mary received byAlexandrina of Balazar and communicated to her spiritual director, the Jesuit priest Mariano Pinho. In 1952, he consecrated "thepeoples of Russia" to the Immaculate Heart inSacro vergente anno, although it was notably not done in communion with bishops worldwide (as requested byOur Lady of Fátima).[9][10][11][12]
In 1964,Pope Paul VI also consecrated humanity, and thus implicitly Russia, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary at the end of the third session ofVatican II.[10][13][14][15]
In 1981 and 1982,Pope John Paul II also consecrated the whole human race to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.[9][10]
All those previous consecrations were done not in communion and coordination with the Catholic bishops of the world.[9]
In 1983, Pope John Paul II set out to rectify any errors that had occurred with the previous consecrations; and on December 8, 1983, he sent a letter to all bishops worldwide, Catholic and Orthodox, asking them to join him in March 1984 for an Act of Entrustment to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.[16] Before doing the consecration, the pope consultedSister Lúcia so as to make sure this consecration of Russia would be valid. However, on March 25, 1984, Pope John Paul II did not mention Russia when he declared an act of consecration of "those men and nations who are in special need of this entrustment and consecration."[17] After John Paul II's consecration, Sister Lúcia stated numerous times that the 1984 consecration had been done the way the Virgin Mary wanted it to be.[9][10]
At the formal request of theEpiscopal Conference of Ukrainian Catholic Bishops, theHoly See announced on 15 March 2022 that Pope Francis would consecrateRussia andUkraine to theImmaculate Heart of Mary on 25 March 2022 atSaint Peter's Basilica in Rome. The 25 March date is the same date as when John Paul II consecrated Russia to the Immaculate Heart in 1984. A consecration ceremony was also scheduled inFátima, Portugal by thepapal almoner, CardinalKonrad Krajewski.[18][19] Accordingly, the Pope sent a letter to invite all theCatholic bishops to join with him in the consecration, by their own volition, at the same designated time the consecration by the pope was to take place.[20][10] He also invited all Catholic communities and all the faithful to join him in the consecration.[21] The text of the consecration contains explicit mentions of "Russia and Ukraine" in the consecration formula.[22]
The Saint Peter's Basilica consecration took place in conjunction with apenitential service, with Francis stating: "Mother of God and our mother, to your Immaculate Heart we solemnly entrust and consecrate ourselves, the church and all humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine". Cardinal Krajewski made a similar consecration inPortugal.[23][24][25]
The text of the consecration contains the title "Earth of Heaven" torefer to Virgin Mary in some of its versions. This title raised concerns among some Catholics. The Holy See explained the origin of the title was "taken from a Byzantine-Slavic monastic hymn, and it poetically signifies the union of heaven and earth that we can contemplate in Virgin Mary assumed bodily into Heaven".[26]
In 1946, during a gathering of youth at Fátima, Sister Lucia was asked by a young Russian girl, Natacha Derfelden, as to how the conversion of Russia would be accomplished. Sister Lucia responded that the conversion of Russia would come through theEastern Orthodox Church and "theOriental rite",[27][28] seemingly meaning the conversion implied reconciliation and reunion between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. A theological commentary written byCardinal Joseph Ratzinger on the Fátima secret cites it as a "conversion of the heart".[29]
In 2003 and 2014, theTheotokos Derzhavnaya and theTheotokos of Port Arthur icon, were brought for veneration to the Portuguese city of Fatima,.[30] where, according toLucia dos Santos,Our Lady of Fatima predicted in 1917 that post-revolutionary Russia would, "spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church."[31]
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