As many have heard, Pope Francis is going to consecrate Russia (and Ukraine) to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the feast of the Annunciation Friday March 25, at 12 noon Eastern time (5pm Rome). This is after the Ukrainian Catholic Bishops asked him to do so, due to the conflict in that region. This consecration is connected to Our Lady of Fatima’s request that Russia be consecrated to her Immaculate Heart, otherwise Russia will spread her “errors” throughout the world.
One of those errors happens to be abortion, as the Soviet Union was one of the first countries to introduce widespread abortion around 1920, just three years after Our Lady of Fatima appeared in Portugal.
To support Pope Francis’ consecration (and to mitigate any spiritual obstacles in doing so), faithful are being asked to pray a novena for this intention. It begins tonight Wednesday March 16 and concludes Thursday March 24 If you see this e-mail after March 16, you are welcome to join in, or and even finish the novena on March 25. The novena was written by Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Kazakhstan, near Russia (who visited our diocese a few years ago):
Prayer for the Holy Father to Consecrate Russia
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, you are the holy Mother of God and our tender Mother. Look upon the distress in which the Church and the whole of humanity are living because of the spread of materialism and the persecution of the Church. In Fatima, you warned against these errors, as you spoke about the errors of Russia.
You are the Mediatrix of all graces. Implore your Divine Son to grant this special grace for the Pope: that he might consecrate Russia to your Immaculate Heart, so that Russia will be converted, a period of peace will be granted to the world, and your Immaculate Heart will triumph, through an authentic renewal of the Church in the splendor of the purity of the Catholic Faith, of the sacredness of Divine worship and of the holiness of the Christian life.
O Queen of the Holy Rosary and our sweet Mother, turn your merciful eyes to us and graciously hear this our trusting prayer. Amen.
+ Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of the archdiocese of Saint Mary in Astana
Attached is a copy, but one can also find it on Bishop Schneider’s Confraternity of Fatima website: https://www.livefatima.io/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/PrayerCard_09.pdf
One of the reasons C-PLAN organizes the Vigil of the Two Hearts each month is to allow faithful to practice the first Saturday devotions as request by Our Lady of Fatima. We invite all our readers and Vigil of the Two Hearts attendees to join us in this novena.