Pope Francis on March 18 asked the world’s bishops to join him in consecrating the warring countries to Mary. After the Holy Father’s weekly Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square March 20, he asked “every community and every believer to join me … in making a solemn act of consecration of humanity, especially of Russia and Ukraine, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, so that she, the Queen of Peace, may obtain peace for the world.” Consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Friday, March 25, 2022 12 noon ET Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception 400 Michigan Avenue NE, Washington, DC

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The Vatican has sent bishops around the world the text of the prayer that Pope Francis will lead on March 25 for the consecration of Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary:

O Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, in this time of trial we turn to you. As our Mother, you love us and know us: no concern of our hearts is hidden from you. Mother of mercy, how often we have experienced your watchful care and your peaceful presence! You never cease to guide us to Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

Yet we have strayed from that path of peace. We have forgotten the lesson learned from the tragedies of the last century, the sacrifice of the millions who fell in two world wars. We have disregarded the commitments we made as a community of nations. We have betrayed peoples’ dreams of peace and the hopes of the young. We grew sick with greed, we thought only of our own nations and their interests, we grew indifferent and caught up in our selfish needs and concerns. We chose to ignore God, to be satisfied with our illusions, to grow arrogant and aggressive, to suppress innocent lives and to stockpile weapons. We stopped being our neighbour’s keepers and stewards of our common home. We have ravaged the garden of the earth with war and by our sins we have broken the heart of our heavenly Father, who desires us to be brothers and sisters. We grew indifferent to everyone and everything except ourselves. Now with shame we cry out: Forgive us, Lord!