On May 13, 1982, the Collegial Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary was attempted. Before leaving for Fatima, Pope John Paul II sent a letter to the Bishops of the world inviting them to join him in the Act of Consecration. Many conferences of Bishops throughout the world had requested the Collegial Consecration which pleased the Pope. Sister Lucia had waited for years for the Collegial Consecration. It was a condition required before Our Lady could keep her promise: “Russia will be converted and there will be peace” (July 13, 1917).

In speaking in the Cova da Iria at Fatima, the Pope said: “I am here, united with all the pastors of the Church in that particular bond whereby we constitute a body and a college, just as Christ desired the Apostles to be in union with Peter. In the bond of this union, I utter the words of the present act, in which I wish to include, once more, the hopes and anxieties of the Church in the modern world.”

In the 1917 apparitions, Our Lady referred to Russia by name. Pope John Paul II on one occasion used the word “Russia” in the Cova. Cheers were heard arising from the people at the mention of “Russia.”

In stating that he wished to renew the consecrations made by Pius XII, only now in a collegial manner, the Pope said: “The appeal of the Lady of the message of Fatima is so deeply rooted in the Gospel and the whole of Tradition that the Church feels that the message imposes a commitment on her. She has responded through the Servant of God, Pius XII (whose episcopal ordination took place precisely on May 13, 1917): he consecrated the human race and especially the peoples of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Was not that consecration his response to the evangelical eloquence of the call of Fatima?”

I contacted Cardinal John Carberry of St. Louis on May 17, 1982, to discover his opinion as to whether the long-awaited Collegial Consecration had in fact taken place. Cardinal Carberry was the same well-known Marian Bishop and Cardinal who at the November 1981 meeting of the Bishops of the United States proposed petitioning the Pope for the Collegial Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary if the Pope deemed it proper. Cardinal Carberry said: “In my humble opinion the Collegial Consecration has now taken place.” Sister Lucia was later to say it was incomplete.  -- more --