Ukrainian Catholic Bishops ask the Pope to consecrate Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary – BC Catholic

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Ukrainian Latin Rite Catholic bishops have asked Pope Francis to consecrate Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

In a letter to the pope, the Ukrainian bishops said they are writing “in these hours of immeasurable pain and terrible trial for our people” in response to the numerous requests for consecration.

“In response to this prayer, we humbly ask Your Holiness to publicly perform the act of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Ukraine and Russia, as requested by the Blessed Virgin at Fatima,” reads the letter, published on the bishops’ website on Ash Wednesday, March 2.

“May the Mother of God, Queen of Peace, accept our prayer: Regina pacis, ora pro nobis.

Their request came as Russian forces moved to encircle the Ukrainian capital Kiev, where several explosions were reported early Wednesday morning, and troops besieged Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.

More than 453,000 people have fled to Poland in the past six days, according to the Polish Border Guard Agency. On March 1 alone, 98,000 people crossed the Polish border.

The Ukrainian bishops have also posted on their website an updated Ukrainian text of an act of consecration of Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, asking that it be recited privately and after every Mass.

About one percent of the Ukrainian population are Latin Rite Catholics. They are concentrated in the west of the country, with six suffragan dioceses to the Lviv Archdiocese of the Latins.

The majority of Catholics in Ukraine belong to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the largest of the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches in communion with Rome. Greek Catholics make up about 9% of Ukraine’s 44 million people, who are predominantly Orthodox Christians.

Before the 1917 revolutions that overthrew the Russian Empire and led to the creation of the Soviet Union, Russia was colloquially known as the “house of Mary” because there were more shrines and churches dedicated to Notre Dame than in any other country at the time. .

During the Fatima apparitions in 1917, the Blessed Virgin Mary revealed three secrets.

The second secret was a statement that World War I would end and a prediction of another war that would begin in the reign of Pius XI if people continued to offend God and Russia was not consecrated to the Immaculate Heart from Marie.

Sister Lucy, one of the three visionaries of Fatima, recalled in her memoirs that Our Lady asked for “the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart and the communion of reparation on the first Saturdays” to prevent a second world war.

She said Mary told her, “If my demands are heard, Russia will convert and there will be peace; otherwise, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions against 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.”

In recent years, Catholic bishops have continued to demand Marian consecrations from their countries in times of violence.

On February 24, the day Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Episcopal Conference also called on all Latin Rite Catholics in Ukraine to pray to Our Lady.

“Now is the time to unite in prayer: in our families, with our neighbours, in our prayer communities and in every parish. We encourage priests from today, after each Mass, in addition to singing the supplication, to pray the act of consecration of Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of the Mother of God,” the episcopal conference wrote.

“We pray the Rosary or other prayers together for peace, for the leaders of our state, for our army and all those who defend our homeland, for the wounded and the dead, as well as the memory of those who started the war and were blinded by aggression,” he said.

“Let us shield our hearts from hatred and anger against our enemies. Christ gives clear instruction that we should pray for them and bless them.

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