Church leaders from 24 nations have requested divine help in ending the Covid-19 pandemic by consecrating their countries to Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary during a ceremony at Fatima in Portugal.
"We wish to entrust our supplications to the Virgin's maternal heart, so she may present them to God and intercede for us", said Cardinal Antonio dos Santos Marto of Leira-Fatima. "Through the rosary, we will keep in mind both direct and indirect victims of this pandemic, as well as health professionals tireless in their efforts to help the sick, and the authorities seeking to find solutions."
The cardinal spoke at the act of consecration in the Lady of the Rosary basilica at Fatima, where three shepherd children reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary in 1917. The Portuguese Ecclesia news agency said the ceremony, co-ordinated by the country's Bishops’ Conference, had been joined live via TV, radio and digital platforms by Catholic archbishops from Albania, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Spain, as well as from further afield in Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, East Timor, Guatemala, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
It added that "many other groups of believers" had also participated in simultaneous prayers to end the coronavirus pandemic, which had caused 34,000 deaths worldwide by the start of this week, according to World Health Organisation data.
The prayer of consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary said all participating countries were now looking for God's mercy and salvation as parts of the "pilgrim Church on earth".
"In this unique hour of suffering, assist your church, inspire the rulers of nations, hear the poor and afflicted, exalt the humble and the oppressed, heal the sick and sinners, raises up the dejected and discouraged, free captives and prisoners, and deliver us from the pandemic that strikes us," the prayer continued. "Support children, the elderly and most vulnerable, comfort doctors, nurses, health professionals and volunteer caregivers, strengthen families, aid us in citizenship and solidarity, be a light for the dying, and welcome the dead into your kingdom."
Speaking at the ceremony, the sanctuary rector, Fr Carlos Cabecinhas, said prayers at Fatima, which drew 9.4 million pilgrims during its 2017 centenary year, were especially important, adding that two of the shepherd visionaries, Saints Francisco de Jesus Marto (1908-1919) and Jacinta de Jesus Marto (1910-1920) had themselves died in an influenza pandemic sweeping Europe after the First World War.
In neighbouring Spain, the Bishops’ Conference president, Cardinal Juan Jose Omella, praised the consecration ceremony as "a beautiful initiative of communion and supplication". The president of Hungary's Conference, Bishop Andras Veres, told the Magyar Kurir agency his Church had requested the Fatima Virgin's intercession for religious renewal during the 1989 collapse of communist rule, and again counted on all countries "experiencing the power of prayer" in curbing the coronavirus. Several Church leaders in Poland have conducted separate ceremonies dedicating their dioceses and archdioceses to the Virgin Mary's protection during the pandemic.
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