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Today, Pope Francis consecrated Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, during the Celebration of Penance that he presided over at 5pm in St Peter's Basilica.
The same act was performed today in Fatima by His Eminence Cardinal Krajewski, Apostolic Almoner, as envoy of the Holy Father.
The day of the Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord was chosen for the consecration.
Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, welcomed the news “in the midst of the tragedy of the bloody war in Ukraine".
The Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halyč thanked the Pope for deciding to consecrate Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary:
“Let us entrust to the Immaculate Heart of Mary all our sufferings and hopes for peace in our martyred country.”
The Archbishop of Lviv, Mieczysław Mokrzycki, joined in thanking the Pope for this gesture:
"We hope and believe that this Act will bring us peace and that the war will end soon."
Speaking via telephone from a meeting in Siberia of the Catholic bishops’ conference of Russia, Archbishop Paolo Pezzi expressed hope in the power of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s intercessory prayer to “stop the bloodshed.”
“Fatima has a special bond, at least as far as the Catholic Church is concerned, with Russia and also with every conflict that takes place in the world,” Pezzi said.
He added: “Certainly the symbolic meaning of this consecration comes from the fact that at this moment there is, unfortunately, an open conflict in Ukraine and what is asked first of all is that we can stop the bloodshed.”
Pezzi served as the president of the Russian Catholic bishops’ conference from 2011 to 2017.
The archbishop was born in Russi, Italy, in 1960 and has served the Catholic Church in Russia since 1993. He has led the Archdiocese of the Mother of God at Moscow for the past 14 years and was granted Russian citizenship in 2011.
“Celebrating an act of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary means expressing that faith, hope, and charity are the normal, real conditions for true coexistence among peoples,” Pezzi said.
“It means expressing that mercy and forgiveness are a gift that God gives to those who first consecrate themselves to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”