On 25^th March, Pope Francis will consecrate Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.This plea is part of the choral prayer that rises up in the world for peace and accompanies the great network of solidarity to which the members of the Focolare Movement also adhere. On 25^th March, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, around 6.30 p.m. (Rome time), from St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, Pope Francis will consecrate all humanity and in particular Russia and Ukraine, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. With this act, according to Catholic tradition, every person on earth, especially those who suffer today because of war, is entrusted to Mary our Mother and through her intercession, to God. The Pope wrote to all the bishops in world to invite them to participate. He said, “The Church is strongly called to intercede before the Prince of Peace and to demonstrate her closeness to those directly affected by the conflict”. Because there is no victory in a war. With war, everything is lost. Therefore, the Pope continues, “in response to numerous requests by the People of God, I wish in a special way to entrust the nations at war to the Blessed Virgin Mary”. This act “is meant to be a gesture of the universal Church, which in this dramatic moment lifts up to God, through his  Mother and ours, the cry of pain of all those who suffer and implore an end to the  violence, and to entrust the future of our human family to the Queen of Peace”. The Focolare Movement, present in more than 180 countries, therefore also in many places where conflicts and wars are still taking place, adheres to the Pope’s appeal. A few days ago in Assisi, the President of the Focolare, Margaret Karram, who together with the General Council of the Movement was in the “city of peace” for a few days of retreat, invoked a prayer for universal peace: “We ask you with the faith that moves the mountains, that there be a ceasefire in the war and that dialogue will be victorious ‘in seeking paths to peace’ between Russia and Ukraine. We ask for the grace that every ongoing conflict, in particular the most forgotten ones, can end”. Since 1991, the years of the Gulf War, the Focolare communities have been united in prayer for peace through a daily “time out” at 12 o’clock in each time zone. Christians of different Churches, faithful of various religions stop for a minute of silence or prayer to ask for peace and to focus on their personal commitment to build it wherever they are. On Friday 25^th March, at the same time that the Pope will perform the act of Consecration, Car. Konrad Krajewski, the Pope’s envoy to Fatima will do the same in Portugal, to plead for Peace together.

Lorenzo Russo

Here is the link for the live prayer from 5.00 p.m (Rome time) Here the act of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in various languages.