During the service, the pontiff will consecrate Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
On the evening of Friday, March 25, when Catholics around the world will celebrate the Annunciation Day, Pope Francis will lead a service in St. Peter's Basilica, during which he will announce a prayer for the consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
This is reported by the press service of the Vatican.
Pope Francis has invited bishops from all over the world and their priests to join with him in prayer for peace and in consecrating and entrusting Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The service will begin on March 25 at 17:00 Roman time (18:00 Kyiv time).
Simultaneously with the prayer in Rome, the same rite will be performed at the site of the apparition of the Virgin Mary in the Portuguese city of Fatima. It will be performed by Cardinal Konrad Kraevsky, who recently visited Ukraine.
Actually in Fatima, during the famous revelation of the Virgin Mary on July 13, 1917, a request was made, transmitted through shepherd children, to consecrate Russia to Her Immaculate Heart. If this is not done, the prophecy said, then Russia will spread “its mistakes throughout the world, contributing to wars and persecution of the Church, the good will be tormented, the Holy Father will suffer a lot, different peoples will be destroyed.”
In 1930 year, the Catholic Church officially recognized these events as a miracle and a revelation that does not contradict doctrine.
Since then, various acts of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary have taken place, but observers point out that none of the heads of the Catholic Church fulfilled the will of the Virgin Mary. Like, on October 31, 1942, Pope Pius XII announced the consecration of the whole world and did not call on all the bishops to do this, and Pope John Paul II did not use the word Russia itself in 1984.
During the upcoming ceremony, Pope Francis will say a prayer for the liberation of Russia from the power of the “evil enemy”, that is, Satan.
The request for the consecration of Ukraine and Russia of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was received by the Pope of Rome from Ukrainian Catholics on the seventh day of the war. The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Supreme Archbishop of Kyiv and Galicia, His Beatitude Svyatoslav Shevchuk, stressed that the decision of Pope Francis is a spiritual act that the Ukrainian people have long been waiting for.
Recall that Pope Francis on March 20 on St. once prayed for peace in Ukraine and stressed that Russia's attack on Ukraine is a sacrilege that has no justification. The Pope also addressed the world community and called for efforts to stop the bloodshed.
