LEAD STORY Photo Grzegorz Galazka
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POPE FRANCIS CONSECRATES RUSSIA, UKRAINE AND “ALL HUMANITY” TO MARY’S IMMACULATE HEART
n answer to requests from Ukraine’s Catholic bishops — and many around the globe for decades — on March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation, the Holy Father Pope Francis pronounced his prayer requesting the consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in union with all the bishops of the world. In the messages connected with Fatima, there is a central place given a request to individual and collective repentance for sins and acts of reparation for the harm caused by those actions and omissions. “Repen-
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INSIDE THE VATICAN MAY-JUNE 2022
tance is the key to Fatima,” Fr. Anthony Gramlich, MIC, Rector of the National Shrine of Divine Mercy, has said. “The Blessed Mother asks us to make reparation through sacrifice for sinners.” In this context, the consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is more than an act of religious piety; it is rather a commitment, by all, to repent of sin and to make reparation for the harm caused by sin, in order to bring about that peace and holiness of life willed by God for the world. – Robert Moynihan, Editor
