Consecrating Russia to Mary?

It's true. The ongoing war suggests to everyone to tone down unnecessary polemics at this dramatic time. However, this news cannot fail to provoke some reflection among evangelical believers at least.

For members of other Christian families (e.g. Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox), this is something totally organic to their faith, but for an evangelical?

We are talking about the act of consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the immaculate heart of Mary that Pope Francis has announced for March 25. If one only slowly reads the sentence with its constituent elements: "consecrate Russia," "to the heart of Mary," moreover "immaculate," by the "vicar of Christ" (the Pope), one understands that deep sensitivities of Roman Catholic religiosity are touched upon: the hyper-veneration of Mary, her intercession for the world, her immaculate conception and figure, contemporary Marian apparitions, the figure of the Pope as a mediator who invokes Mary's mediation for the fate of a country.

[destacate]The consecration of Russia to the heart of Mary is a request at the heart of Our Lady's apparition at Fatima (Portugal)[/destacate]To these themes, which have characterized Roman Catholic spirituality for centuries, we must add one more, more recent, which adds a further dramatic dimension to the rest. The consecration of Russia to the heart of Mary is a request at the heart of Our Lady's apparition at Fatima (Portugal) on July 13, 1917 when, so the Roman Catholic chronicles say, Our Lady appeared to Sister Lucy and gave this injunction.

After the apparitions at Fatima, there were various acts of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary: Pius XII, on October 31, 1942, even consecrated the entire world, and on July 7, 1952, he consecrated the peoples of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Then it was the turn of Paul VI, on November 21, 1964, to renew the same consecration, up to John Paul II. The Polish Pope composed a prayer for what he called the "Act of Entrustment" on 7 June 1981.

Here is the text: "Take under your maternal protection the entire human family, which we entrust to you, O Mother, with affectionate love". Similar acts of entrustment to Mary were repeated at Fatima on May 13, 1982 and then on March 25, 1984 in St. Peter's Square with this prayer: "Embrace with the love of Mother and Handmaid of the Lord, this human world of ours, which we entrust and consecrate to you, full of concern for the earthly and eternal destiny of men and peoples".

The act of consecration by Pope Francis will include this prayer:

O Mother, hear our prayer.

Star of the Sea, do not let us be shipwrecked in the tempest of war.

Ark of the New Covenant, inspire projects and paths of reconciliation.

Queen of Heaven, restore God’s peace to the world.

Eliminate hatred and the thirst for revenge, and teach us forgiveness.

Free us from war, protect our world from the menace of nuclear weapons.

Queen of the Rosary, make us realize our need to pray and to love.

Queen of the Human Family, show people the path of fraternity.

Queen of Peace, obtain peace for our world.

Here is Roman Catholicism in full display. The act of Pope Francis, himself a very Marian pope, did not invent anything new. It stands in the wake of a tradition established in the twentieth century by predecessor popes. It leads to the heart of the Roman Catholic religion, namely Mariology in which its strongest doctrinal and emotional commitments converge.

Mary is in fact the pure creature (preserved from original sin), mother of the church, mother of the whole world, advocate and always involved in all that the Son is and will be, has done and will do. When one touches the "mother" one touches inveterate psychisms that the Roman Catholic church has theologized and even dogmatized. Perhaps in the near future Rome will also recognize Mary as co-redemptrix?

The act of consecration to Mary's immaculate heart should make all evangelicals who, over the past few years, have been thrilled to see in Pope Francis a "believer" close to the evangelical faith, gasp.

In reality, Pope Francis is close to everyone and ultimately close only to himself. While he seems to be moving closer to evangelicals, he is not moving away from Marianism. While he speaks of "reform," he takes up archaic traditions that lead backward. While he speaks of Christ, he entrusts the world to Mary. While he evokes the gospel, he reiterates tradition. While reading the Bible, he entrusts himself to an apparition. This is not the evangelical faith. This is Roman Catholicism, which, in approaching everyone, remains itself.

If we don't understand the seriousness of this, it means the antibodies of the evangelical faith are getting frighteningly low, close to exhaustion.

Leonardo De Chirico is an evangelical pastor in Rome (Italy). He is a theologian and an expert in Roman Catholicism. He blogs at VaticanFiles.com.