The Catholic bishops of England and Wales will join in the consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on 25 March, at the invitation of the Pope.
In a statement on behalf of the conference, the Bishop of Plymouth, Mark O’Toole, said: “I have been touched by the Holy Father’s initiative and look forward to uniting with him, my brother bishops, and Catholics in England and Wales in this act of consecration.”
Pope Francis announced on Tuesday that he would perform the consecration, requested by Ukraine’s Roman Rite bishops, after the celebration of penance on the Feast of the Annunciation, and has invited the world’s bishops to join him in the act.
Pope Francis will consecrate the two countries to the Immaculate Virgin Mary during a penance service on March 25 in St Peter’s Basilica. At the same time, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the pope’s almoner, will be in Fatima, Portugal, to carry out the same act.
A letter to American bishops from the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States expressed the Pope’s intention to invite each bishop, or equivalent in law, together with his priests, to join in this act of consecration, if possible, at an hour corresponding to 5:00pm Rome time.
Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church expressed his support for the decision in a video message on Thursday, offering prayers “to the Immaculate Virgin Mary, preparing for this consecration of Ukraine and Russia to her Immaculate Heart”.
In the message, he said that women were the “first victims” of conflict but also the strongest in the face of war: “The woman is today the symbol of the strength and courage of Ukraine.”
He concluded by dedicating “the women of Ukraine to the protection of the Immaculate Theotokos”, a Greek Orthodox title for the Virgin Mary.
Bishops across the world have accepted the invitation to partake in the consecration, including in the United States and the Philippines.
The Catholic Archbishop of Moscow, Paolo Pezzi, said the invitation “was truly received as a gesture of support for our hope and, I would also say, as a gesture that has awakened our desire to be effective peacemakers”.
Asked how he would appeal to the governments of Russia and Ukraine, Archbishop Pezzi referred to the injunction of St John Paul II: “Do not be afraid of Christ.”
The invitation to the world’s bishops accords with the “secret” of Our Lady of Fatima, which originally called for the consecration of Russia during the First World War. Some have argued that previous attempts have been ineffective because they were not accomplished by bishops across the world and did not mention “Russia” specifically.
A statue of Our Lady of Fatima arrived in Ukraine on Thursday in preparation for the consecration. The official copy of the statue from the shrine at Fatima was delivered to the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin in Lviv, at the request of Archbishop Ihor Vozniak, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic archbishop of the city.
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