On March 25, 2022, the great Feast of the Annunciation, Pope Francis consecrated “ourselves, the Church and all humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine” to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in a solemn and reverent ceremony. In response to the Pope’s invitation, many bishops around the world did the same. Since then, we at The Fatima Center have been swamped with e-mails and phone calls asking the same question:
Did the consecration on March 25, 2022 fulfill the request of Our Lady of Fatima?
At Fatima, Our Lady told us that if Her requests for the Consecration of Russia and the First Saturday devotion were heeded, “Russia will be converted and there will be peace.” By the conversion of Russia, Our Lady meant the conversion of the Russian people to the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church founded by Her Son. By peace, She did not mean merely the absence of war, but true Christian harmony and unity between nations.
If, in the upcoming weeks and months, Russians en masse start to convert to Catholicism and true Christian peace breaks out worldwide, we will know that Our Lady of Fatima’s requests have been fulfilled. If such developments do not occur, we will know that one – or both – of those requests remain outstanding. Even if the 2022 consecration did not fulfill Our Lady’s request, it may still merit graces. Previous consecrations (e.g., 1942, 1952, 1984) merited graces which impacted the world, even though they were not the Consecration requested by Our Lady of Fatima.
Heaven will be the judge of Francis’ 2022 consecration. Who among us would dare to claim to know the Mind of God and the Heart of our Blessed Mother? We at The Fatima Center will continue to pray that Heaven will look favorably upon this consecration and grant the Church and the world the graces needed to bring the Message of Fatima to complete fulfillment.
Nevertheless, given the evidence at our disposal and our understanding of the Fatima Message and the Catholic faith, we must conclude that the 2022 consecration was not the one requested by Our Lady of Fatima.
The Text: To “consecrate” means to set something apart for a holy purpose. On March 25th, Pope Francis consecrated “ourselves, the Church and humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine” to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. By consecrating all of humanity he did not set Russia apart for a holy purpose as required in the Fatima request. This is confirmed by two events in Fatima history.
In 1942, Pope Pius XII consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart with a special albeit oblique mention of Russia, which is similar to what Pope Francis did on March 25th. Our Lord confirmed to Sister Lucia that, by the 1942 consecration, Pius XII would obtain “an abbreviation of [the] days of tribulation” of the Second World War but that “the conversion of Russia is not for now.” In 1984, Sister Lucia said that Pope John Paul II’s consecration of the world was not the consecration requested by Our Lady because “Russia does not appear clearly as the only object of the consecration.“ The same can be said of the 2022 consecration.
All the bishops: When Our Lady appeared to Sister Lucia in Tuy, Spain in 1929 to request the Consecration of Russia, She said:
“The moment has come in which God asks the Holy Father to make, and to order that in union with him and at the same time all the bishops of the world make, the Consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, promising to convert it because of this day of prayer and worldwide reparation.”
Pope Francis invited, but did not order, all the bishops to join him in praying the consecration prayer on March 25th. While several bishops’ conferences announced their members would participate, others did not. To ensure that all the bishops consecrate Russia as requested by Our Lady, Father Gruner believed the Pope should order them to do so under pain of losing their office. This did not happen.
Father Gruner and other Fatima experts believed that two key actions must precede or be concurrent with a proper Consecration of Russia:
Worldwide Reparation: Reparation, by which we make amends for our sins and those of others, is central to the Fatima Message. Our Lady requested the First Saturday devotion and the Consecration of Russia as acts of reparation to Her Immaculate Heart. The consecration prayer of March 25th omitted any reference to the need for reparation. For a proper Consecration of Russia to occur, the Church and the Catholic faithful need to rediscover the need for reparation, principally by promoting and performing the First Saturday devotion.
The Third Secret: Our Lady wanted the Church to release the Third Secret of Fatima to the world in 1960. In 2000, the Vatican released the text of the vision that forms part of the Third Secret. To this day, however, it has not released the words of Our Lady explaining that vision. Father Gruner believed that a proper Consecration of Russia will not happen until the Vatican makes amends for its disobedience by releasing the entire Third Secret.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
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