BOLD MOVES TOWARD CHRISTIANITY IN RUSSIA REKINDLE AN ISSUE: WAS IT BECAUSE OF FATIMA CONSECRATION?

A hot-button issue it is, whether Russia was ever fully and properly consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, as requested at Fatima, so that the Communist superpower would "convert."

That was the promise in 1917: that consecration of this nation would avert major negative events and cause Russia's return to Christianity.

"To prevent [disaster], I shall come to ask for the Consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays," she had told the three visionaries. "If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world."

Bishops and cardinals have said that during visits to her convent in Coimbra, Portugal, the last Fatima seer, Sister Lucia dos Santos, repeatedly told them the consecration took place -- and was accepted by Heaven -- when John Paul II, in union with the bishops, presented the entire "world" to the Immaculate Heart on March 25, 1984.

Critics have often claimed that no consecration was valid unless it directly mentioned Russia and was done in concert with the entire Church.

The new Pope, Francis, is set for another consecration of the world this October 13 and the actual statue of Our Lady of Fatima from the chapel of the famed apparitions will be in Rome for it. (Will he surprise us by explicitly repeating the consecration Russia?)

At Medjugorje, which John Paul II described as "the fulfillment of Fatima," the Blessed Mother allegedly said that "the Russian people will be the people who will glorify God the most. The West has made civilization progress, but without God, as if they were their own creators" (October, 1981).

It is interesting, how many Russians have flocked back to church (albeit it, for the main part, Orthodox churches) and how leaders like Vladimir Putin openly lights candles, kisses statues, and wears medals.

Does what is occurring qualify as a "conversion"?

Here we must remain cautious -- optimistic yet cautious.


[link to www.spiritdaily.com]