Bishop Peter to join Pope Francis in consecration on March 25
Photo of Pope Francis in Fatima, Portugal courtesy of Catholic News Agency
Bishop Peter Christensen will join with other Bishops and Pope Francis on Friday, March 25, in a consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Pope Francis will be doing so at 5 p.m. Rome time at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, or 10 a.m. Boise time and 9 a.m. in northern Idaho. Bishop Peter’s consecration will be very close to that exact time as he will do so during the 8:30 a.m. morning Mass at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Boise.
March 25 was the day in 1984 that Pope John Paul II consecrated Russia and the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It is also the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord.
Ukraine’s Latin Rite Catholic bishops asked Pope Francis earlier this month to consecrate
Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
In a letter to the pope, the Ukrainian bishops said that they were writing “in these hours of immeasurable pain and terrible ordeal for our people” in response to many requests for the consecration.
“Responding to this prayer, we humbly ask Your Holiness to publicly perform the act of
consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Ukraine and Russia, as requested by the Blessed Virgin in Fatima,” said the letter, published on the bishops’ website on Ash Wednesday,
March 2.