The bishops of Portugal and this
multitude of pilgrims are at your feet, on the 96th anniversary of
your apparition to the little shepherds in Cova de Iria, to fulfill
Pope Francis’ clearly expressed wish, that we consecrate to you,
Virgin of Fatima, his ministry as Bishop of Rome and universal
shepherd.
Thus we consecrate to you, Lady, who
are Mother of the Church, the ministry of the new Pope. Fill his
heart with the tenderness of God, which you felt like no one else, so
that he will be able to embrace all the men and women of this time
with the love of your Son Jesus Christ. Contemporary humanity needs
to feel that it is loved by God and by the Church. Only by feeling
loved will it overcome the temptation to violence, materialism,
forgetfulness of God, the loss of its way. And it will be led by you
to a new world where love will reign.
Give him the gift of discernment, to be
able to identify the paths for the renewal of the Church. Give him
the courage not to hesitate in following the paths suggested by the
Holy Spirit. Shelter him in the harsh hours of suffering, to overcome
in charity the trials that the renewal of the Church will bring. Be
always by his side, saying with him those words you know well: “I
am the Handmaid of the Lord, let it be done unto me according to Thy
word.”
The paths of the renewal of the Church
lead us to discover the timeliness of the message that you gave the
little shepherds: the exigency of conversion to God who has been
offended, because He is so forgotten. Conversion is always a return
to the love of God. God forgives because He loves us. This is why His
love is called mercy. The Church, protected by your maternal
solicitude and guided by this shepherd, must assert herself
increasingly as the place of conversion and forgiveness, because in
her, truth is always expressed in charity.
You indicated prayer as the decisive
path of conversion. Teach the Church of which you are a member and
model, so that we will be increasingly a people at prayer, in
communion with the Holy Father, the first of this people who prays,
and also in silent communion with the previous Pope, His Holiness
Benedict XVI, who chose the path of the silent man of prayer, taking
the Church more profoundly into the paths of prayer.
In your message to the little
shepherds, here in Cova de Iria, you highlighted the Pope’s
ministry, “the man dressed in white.” Three of the last Popes
were pilgrims to your shrine. Only you, Lady, in your maternal love
for the whole Church, can put in Pope Francis’ heart the desire to
be a pilgrim to this shrine. It is not something we can ask him for
other reasons. Only the silent collaboration between you and him will
attract him to this pilgrimage, in the certainty that he will be
supported by millions of believers, willing to hear your message
again.
Here at this altar of the world, he
will be able to bless humanity, to make today’s world feel that God
loves all men and women of our time, that the Church loves them and
that you, Mother of the Redeemer, lead them with tenderness on the
paths of salvation.
+JOSE, cardinal patriarch
(thanks Zenit)