Pope Francis to Consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

 From Vatican News:

Pope to consecrate Russia and Ukraine to Immaculate Heart of Mary

The consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by Pope Francis will take place during the Celebration of Penance on 25 March in St Peter's Basilica.

By Vatican News

Pope Francis will consecrate Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on Friday, 25 March, during the Celebration of Penance that he will preside over at 5pm in St Peter's Basilica.

The Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, said in a statement: “The same act, on the same day, will be performed in Fatima by Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, papal almoner,” who is being sent there by the Pope.

The day of the Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord was chosen for the consecration.

Martyrdom of the good

In the apparition of 13 July 1917, in Fatima, Our Lady had asked for the consecration of Russia to Her Immaculate Heart, stating that if this request were not granted, Russia would spread "its errors throughout the world, promoting wars and persecution of the Church.”

“The good," she added, "will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be destroyed."

Consecrations of Russia to Mary

After the Fatima apparitions, there were various acts of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Pope Pius XII, on 31 October 1942, consecrated the whole world, and on 7 July 1952 he consecrated the peoples of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the Apostolic Letter Sacro vergente anno:

“Just as a few years ago we consecrated the whole world to the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mother of God, so now, in a most special way, we consecrate all the peoples of Russia to the same Immaculate Heart. - Pope Pius XII”

On 21 November 1964, Pope St Paul VI renewed the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart in the presence of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council.

Pope St. John Paul II composed a prayer for what he called an 'Act of Entrustment' to be celebrated in the Basilica of St Mary Major on 7 June 1981, the Solemnity of Pentecost.

In June 2000, the Holy See revealed the third part of the secret of Fatima.

At the time, the then-Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, pointed out that Sister Lucia, in a letter of 1989, had personally confirmed that this solemn and universal act of consecration corresponded to what Our Lady wanted: "Yes, it was done," wrote the visionary, "just as Our Lady had asked, on 25 March 1984".

Further:

Ukrainian Archbishop Calls for Worldwide Novena Ahead of Pope Francis' Consecration of Russia and Ukraine

BREAKING NEWS! Francis Says He Will Consecrate Russia… to the Immaculate Heart. | The Fatima Center is the headline at The Fatima Centre. I am certainly no expert and I try to keep these things simple, so here is my take.

1.     All of this is in the realm of private revelation, one need not believe it. Revelation ended with St. John. At the same time, the Church has clearly determined that certain private revelations are worthy of belief including Our Lady's apparitions at La Salette, Lourdes and Fatima and lesser-known but equally important ones such as Quito, Akita and Kibeho amongst others. If we have churches and schools and feast days to St. Bernadette and Our Lady of Fatima, then clearly, there is something to this. We can choose not to believe it, but we cannot choose to mock it!

2.    If this is true and if Our Lady asked for Russia to be consecrated to her Immaculate Heart, we need to ask the question: Was this done? It has also been said that in order to be valid it must be done at the same time throughout the world by every bishop in union with the Pope.  If this were true, then why did none of the Popes that undertook some kind of "consecration," Pius XII, Paul VI and John Paul II, command it? It would take a Papal Bull with the pain of excommunication for disobedience to enforce it because if one bishop did not comply, it would be invalid. Now, I would ask this, would Our Lady attach such conditions? Conditions that would be so minute as to make it invalid? Conditions that would cause so much schism?

3.    If it were done according to the experts, why would it need to be done again? Clearly, it was not done in 1942 by Pius XII in the manner allegedly requested by Our Lady or the results would have been obvious - the Second World War would have ended in 1942, not 1945, the spread of communism would have been stopped and Eastern Europe would never have been under the Warsaw Pact, the takeover by Mao in China which took place seven years later, would also not have occurred. Presumably, there would have been no nuclear attack on Japan because peace would have reigned in 1942 and broken out everywhere. The Korean War would not have been. Nor would Vietnam. Cuba would not be communist.

4.    Paul VI "renewed" it. Yet, it was still not done as we saw communism topple Vietnam, El Salvador, Nicaragua and countries throughout the world, particularly in Asia and Africa and more recently, Venezuela.

5.    Russia continued to spread its "errors," and we, in the Christian West have adopted cultural Marxism, radical atheism, statism and globalism. We have accepted as our own, Russia's errors. Clearly, either it was not done, or the whole matter was a fraud from the beginning.

6.    John Paul II attempted it but did not do it fully. Many believe it was accepted because Lucia said so. Yet, we can ask without conspiracy theories, was this the same Lucia? The pictures seem to defy it. How can "heaven" have accepted it, as she said It did if it did not contain the original requirements which she said were necessary in the first place. Was she wrong in 1929 or when she said she wasn't? When did Our Lady change her mind?

7.    Some say that the fall of the Berlin Wall and the other factors of the early 1990's is evidence that John Paul II did it. Even the Ukrainian Archbishop in the article above thinks it was done. Archbishop Mokrzycki told CNA that:

“Our Lady of Fatima in 1917 said that the consecration would be followed by a time of peace. That time of peace is over now, so we need to repeat the act of consecration of Russia and Ukraine.” 

Peace? What peace? There has been no peace since the Consecration of the World by John Paul II. Frankly, this is a myopic, Euro-centric view of peace. From the period after 1981, I count 91 wars and the deaths of 4,559,652 people not including the current Ukraine-Russian conflict. This, is peace? What has Mokrzycki been using as incense? If we add to this the war on the unborn, the war on the poor, the war on morality, it is quite clear that there is no peace, there has been no peace. God is God of all nations, not just European! If the Consecration was done, then there would have been no war in Rwanda, Yemen, the Falklands, Iraq, Syria, Iran, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Ethiopia, Chechnya, the infamous Balkans. Are we seeing more clearly, now?

Let us be clear. No Pope has done it. Or, it is all a fraud. It is really just that simple.

Now, some believe that Francis is not Pope, that the Pope remains Benedict XVI and that any consecration by Francis without Benedict XVI being there to do it, would be invalid. We won't debate that here. You, dear reader, already know the arguments but suffice to say, there are powerful arguments for both sides on whether Benedict remains Pope. My own view is this. I don't know. I cannot know for sure. The Law says Jorge Bergoglio is Pope, the priests of Rome accept him as their bishop and the Bishop of Rome is Pope. Keep it simple. God will and is handling the details. We can only know what we can know. Therefore, we must assume the good and it is this. Francis is Pope, he intends to consecrate Russia and Ukraine (no debate on this not just being Russia, Ukraine was Russia in 1917 and 1929 and thereafter). We must be in union on this. Why? Let me quote the great Gamaliel in Acts 5: 38-39 

“And now, therefore, I say to you, refrain from these men, and let them alone; for if this council or this work be of men, it will come to nought; But if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest perhaps you be found even to fight against God. And they consented to him.”

I will not argue with Pope Francis on this. I will not argue with God.