The Prayer Consecrating Pope Francis' Papacy

On May 13, 2013, Cardinal Policarpo of Lisbon consecrated the papacy of Pope Francis to Our Lady of Fatima. It was an unusual event, in which a reigning pope asked a subordinate to make on his behalf such an act. The Pope was not present at Fatima for the consecration of his pontificate to the Virgin of Fatima, which occurred on the 96th annniversary of the first Fatima apparition. At Fatima, Mary's International Pilgrimage also took place. News of this event hasn't seem to gather much attention. Meanwhile, let's literally pray and hope that Pope Francis will be the prophesied pope who will command and lead the bishops in the collegial consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary!

What follows below is the prayer - as it was translated from a Portuguese site to English (source at the end):


Consecration to Our Lady of Fatima's Ministry of Pope Francisco
Blessed Virgin,

1. We are at Thy feet, the Bishops of Portugal and this crowd of pilgrims, in the 96th Anniversary of Your Appearance to the Shepherds, at this Cova da Iria, to comply with the desire of Pope Francisco, clearly expressed, to consecrate to You, Virgin of Fatima, his ministry as Bishop of Rome and Universal Pastor. So, we consecrate to You Our Lady, Thou who art the Mother of the Church, the Ministry of the new Pope: fill his heart with the tenderness of God, that You have experienced as nobody did, so that he can embrace all men and women of this time with the love of Thy Son Jesus Christ. The contemporary humanity needs to feel loved by God and by the Church. Just by feeling loved they overcome the temptation to violence, materialism, of forgetting God, the loss of direction that will lead them to a new world, where love will reign. Give him the gift of discernment to know how to identify the ways of renewal of the Church; give him the courage not to hesitate to follow the ways suggested by the Holy Spirit; support him in hard hours of suffering, to win, in charity, the trials that the renewal of the Church will bring. Always be at his side, speaking to him as you well know those words: "I am the handmaid of the Lord, be it in me to Thy word." [KIC Note: Perhaps this is a translation error, for the latter words should be "let it be done to me according to thy word."]

2. The ways of renewing the Church leads us to rediscover the relevance of the message you have left to Shepherds: the requirement of conversion to God who has been so offended, and so forgotten. The conversion is always a return to the love of God. God forgives because he loves us. That is why His love is called Mercy. The Church, protected by Thy maternal solicitude and guided by this Pastor has to be firm, more and more, as a Place of conversion and forgiveness, because in her it expresses the truth always in charity.

You have indicated prayer as the path of decisive conversion. Teach the Church, You who are a member and model, to be, increasingly, a people of prayer, in communion with the Holy Father, the first prayer of the people, and also in silent communion with the previous Pope, His Holiness Benedict XVI, who chose the path of silent prayer, challenging the church to the ways of prayer.

3. In Your Message to the Shepherds here in Cova da Iria,You have put into relief the Ministry of the Pope, "the man in white." [KIC Note: This is an unusual phrasing in which to address the Pope. Is this a reference to the Third Secret's "bishop dressed in white"?] Three of the last Popes made themselves pilgrims of Your Sanctuary. Only You, Lady, in Thy motherly love for the whole Church can put in the heart of Pope Francisco the desire to be a pilgrim in this Shrine. It is not something that you can ask for other reasons, only the silent complicity between You and He led him to feel attracted to this pilgrimage in sure it will be joined by millions of believers, willing to listen again Your Message.

Here, in this world Altar, he may bless mankind, to impress on the world today that God loves all men and women of our time, the Church loves them and You, Mother of the Redeemer, lead them tenderly into the ways of salvation.Fatima, May 13, 2013

D. José Policarpo
Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon and President of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference
Source: http://www.agencia.ecclesia.pt/cgi-bin/noticia.pl?id=95484