Pope John Paul II'S Third Consecration

       Pope John Paul II first consecrated the world and 'in a special way . . . those individuals and nations which particularly need to be thus entrusted and consecrated' at Fatima on May 13, 1982, the first anniversary of his attempted assassination.

       On that occasion, in his homily he stated: 'the evangelical call to repentance and conversion uttered in the Mother's message remains ever relevant. It is still more relevant than it was sixty-five years ago. It is still more urgent. And so it is to be the subject of next year's Synod of Bishops, which we are already preparing for.'

       However, at last year's Episcopal Synod, only one Bishop (Mgr. Nossol of Opole, Poland) made a reference to the Fatima message (and only incidentally, in a written intervention). As a consequence, in the course of the 17th General Congregation on October 15, 1983, Bishop Mabutas y Lloren of Davao (Philippines) found it necessary, in a masterpiece of understatement, to issue the following indictment:

       'IT APPEARS SOMEHOW STRANGE THAT IN DEALING WITH THE MISSION OF RECONCILIATION . . . THERE HAS BEEN A PRACTICALLY UNIVERSAL SILENCE ON THE PERSON THE CHURCH INVOKES AS REFUGIUM PECCATORUM, THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.'

       Little wonder that on the following day the Pope found it necessary implicitly to rebuke the Synod Fathers by repeating, word for word, the consecration effected on May 13, 1982.

       And now Pope John Paul II has called on all the bishops in the Church to join him in a consecration of the whole world to Mary's Immaculate Heart on the Feast of the Annunciation, 1984.

       Clearly, the Holy Father is endeavoring by a veritable crescendo of papal initiatives to prepare the minds of the Bishops for the Collegial Consecration of Russia to Mary's Immaculate Heart which has been insistently demanded by Our Lady of Fatima as a precondition for the conversion of Russia and for peace for the world.

What Sister Lucia Said

       It is however necessary to warn against misinterpretation of the Holy Father's forthcoming consecration.

       First of all, the text of the consecration to be used by all Bishops is substantially the same as that of the Holy Father's two previous consecrations on May 13, 1982 and October 16, 1983.¹

       Concerning this text, Sister Lucia stated on March 19, 1983 that the consecration of Russia had not been effected on May 13, 1982, because Russia had not clearly been the object of the consecration and because each bishop had not arranged a public solemn ceremony of Russia's consecration in his own cathedral. Sister Lucia's statement which was made to the Portuguese Nuncio and two Portuguese periti, Dr. Lacerda and Father Messias, concluded by explaining why she had been unable to say this earlier: 'The consecration of Russia has not been made as Our Lady has demanded. I could not say so (at the time) because I did not have the permission of the Holy See.'²

Collegial

       On March 25, 1984, it is true, all the bishops in the world are being asked to make the consecration. But if they are merely being asked or invited to do so, it will be surprising if there is a 100 per cent positive response to the invitation. Which explains why, according to Sister Lucia, the bishops require to be ORDERED, not merely requested or invited to take part in the collegial act of consecration.

       However, even if there is a 100 per cent response, so that the Act is truly collegial, since there is still no specific reference to Russia as such in the text to be used, the March 25, 1984 act of consecration will still not comply with the demand of Our Lady of Fatima.

Confusion To Be Avoided

       It is particularly necessary to make this clear, especially given the scandalous confusion which followed the consecration of May 13, 1982 when for nearly a year - in fact until Abbé Caillon published Lucia's statement of March 19, 1983³ - most Marian journals misled their readers by maintaining that the consecration demanded by Our Lady of Fatima had in fact been effected.

       There must be no comparable confusion after the consecration of March 25, 1984. However the danger of confusion is very great. For on March 25, 1984, the Act of Consecration will most certainly be collegial, however imperfectly so, in that it will involve at least a substantial proportion of the bishops of the Universal Church. For this reason it will almost certainly be maintained by some people that the consecration demanded by Our Lady has at long last been effected.

       Whereas, clearly this will not be the case since the text includes no mention of Russia as such.

       Fortunately, on this occasion we have Lucia's testimony BEFORE THE EVENT. We therefore know that in the consecration demanded by Our Lady RUSSIA MUST BE CLEARLY THE OBJECT OF THE CONSECRATION.

The Holy Father's Intention

       Since it was at the Holy Father's request that Sister Lucia was interrogated by the Portuguese Nuncio and the two Portuguese periti, it may be presumed that he has since been informed of what she said and therefore that he knows that the text he has proposed for the March 25, 1984 consecration does not meet with the demand of Our Lady of Fatima. It may also be presumed that what he said on May 19, 1982, after returning to Rome from Fatima, explains why he still proposes to use the same text.

Why The Same Text?

       On May 19, 1982, he explained that on May 13, 1982 he had 'tried to do everything possible in the concrete circumstances ...'

       Not what had been asked for specifically, but merely 'everything possible in the concrete circumstances'! And that was before his homily on May 13, 1982 concerning his intentions for the Episcopal Synod had been not merely ignored, but rather snubbed by dumb episcopal insolence. He is therefore now in a better position than ever to know what is 'possible in the concrete circumstances'. In other words he knows that at present it would be asking for the formal schism he fears were he to order the bishops to consecrate RUSSIA to Mary's Immaculate Heart. For this would be tantamount to asking them to revert at least implicitly to the Church's pre-Conciliar attitude to Soviet Communism which it had defined as 'intrinsically evil' and this would be completely unacceptable to a significant number of Bishops.⁴

       Clearly therefore, the March 25, 1984 consecration, which cannot but do immense good, does not pretend to fulfill the explicit demand of Our Lady of Fatima for the collegial consecration of RUSSIA to Her Immaculate Heart. It is rather a prayerful exercise of global dimensions designed to hasten the day when the Collegial Consecration of Russia to Mary's Immaculate Heart will indeed become possible.

       To interpret the March 25, 1984 consecration otherwise would be completely to misunderstand and to misrepresent the intentions of the Holy Father.

       Meanwhile it is imperative that each bishop be petitioned to ensure that as many bishops as possible do what the Holy Father asks of them on March 25, 1984.

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