The Second Greatest Story Ever Told by Michael E. Gaitley MIC

Author:Michael E. Gaitley, MIC
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Pope John Paul II, St. Faustina, Divine Mercy, Fatima, Maximilian Kolbe, Marian
Publisher: Marian Press
Published: 2015-02-18T00:00:00+00:00

Third Time’s the Charm. Recall that John Paul’s second attempt to consecrate the world and Russia failed because the invitations to the world’s bishops arrived too late. The Pope didn’t make the same mistake twice. For his third attempt at the consecration on March 25, 1984, he was meticulous in his preparations.

First, more than three months beforehand, he sent out his invitations to all the Catholic bishops of the world, asking them to join him in making the consecration — the letter was dated December 8, 1983, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. Second, he invited the patriarchs of the Orthodox Church to participate, and five of them actually came. Third, he carefully studied all the pertinent texts from the Fatima apparitions as well as previous consecration texts. Fourth, he personally consulted with Sr. Lucia. Fifth, he had the statue of Our Lady of Fatima from the Fatima Chapel of the Apparitions in the Cova da Iria flown to Rome for the occasion, the same statue that, in its crown, contains one of the bullets that had struck the Pope.134 With these unprecedented preparations made, all that was left was to wait for the day that heaven had already been awaiting for so long.

On March 25, 1984, in St. Peter’s Square, with a crowd of about 200,000 of the faithful, with numerous bishops and cardinals present, in union with all the bishops throughout the world, and before the Fatima Shrine statue of Our Lady, Pope John Paul II solemnly consecrated the world and Russia to Mary’s Immaculate Heart as had been requested by Our Lady of Fatima. However, unfortunately, because the Pope did not explicitly say “Russia” in his public prayer, choosing instead to use veiled references as Pius XII had done, some have argued that it did not count.

But it did count because the Pope clearly implied Russia when he said, “In a special way we entrust and consecrate to you those individuals and nations that particularly need to be thus entrusted and consecrated.” He clearly intended to consecrate Russia, as did the bishops, who undoubtedly understood the implication.

After the ceremony, when he was thanked for consecrating “the world,” John Paul himself added, “and Russia.”135 This point of including Russia was deeply meaningful to him, because his own home country, Poland, was still suffering behind the Iron Curtain. In fact, many have speculated that during the several pauses John Paul made while reciting the consecration prayer, he was probably bringing this intention of his heart even more directly to Our Lady, namely, his prayer for the collapse of Soviet Communism.

Still, the rumors persisted: “Did the consecration really count? Had the Pope actually done what was required?” To quell these rumors and set the record straight, Sr. Lucia gave her own opinion, in writing, on August 29, 1989:

Afterward [Pope John Paul II] wrote to all the bishops of the world asking them to unite themselves to him. He had the statue of Our Lady of Fatima [from the Cova da Iria chapel] brought to Rome on March 25, 1984.

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