(LifeSiteNews) – Cardinal Raymond Burke has commented on Pope Francis’ March 25 consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, saying that “the prayer will be heard,” even though no mention was made of fulfilling the request of Fatima.
In an interview given to Our Lady’s Blue Army in late June 2022, the cardinal weighed in on the consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary made earlier this year by Pope Francis in Rome. He also renewed a call for Catholics to fulfill Our Lady’s request at Fatima to pray the rosary daily and observe the first Saturday’s in reparation for sin.
Burke said that while no explicit mention was made by the Pope about whether the consecration was intended to fulfill Mary’s Fatima request for the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart, “nevertheless,” he insisted, “the prayer will be heard, and Our Lord will respond to it.”
“The prayers of so many are lifted up to Our Lord for peace in the world,” the cardinal reflected.
“There’s no way that Our Lord won’t hear that prayer. And many joined Pope Francis in making this prayer of consecration,” continued the cardinal.
Speaking of Pope Francis and the Fatima request, Burke said:
Now he [Francis] himself made no mention of Fatima and never claimed that he was trying to fulfill what Our Lady asked of us at Fatima; but nevertheless, the prayer will be heard, I believe, and Our Lord will respond to it.
Burke then emphasized that at Fatima, Our Lady indicated the way souls should live out consecration to her Immaculate Heart. Mary asked the faithful, Burke said, to pray the rosary daily, make acts of reparation for sin, and to keep the first Saturday’s. The cardinal added his voice to Our Lady’s message in calling for a renewed observance of these practices.
“My message is,” Burke said, “the consecration that the Holy Father made, according to what Our Lady has taught us at Fatima, demands of us praying the rosary daily, making acts of reparation, [and] keeping the first Saturday’s.”
And so I just urge everyone to begin to pray the rosary, make acts of reparation, observe the first Saturday’s, in order to bring about peace in the world, and because she’s told us that that is the way. And we can trust that she’s told us the truth.
Burke then went on to say that he thought the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, promised at Fatima, would come about when enough souls kept the first Saturday’s by going to Confession and Communion in reparation for sin.
“The first Saturday’s devotion is, in our opinion, the unfulfilled part of the Fatima message… I think that’s why we’re promoting it so strongly today,” said the former prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. “I do believe that when enough people do embrace the first Saturday’s we will see this triumph come.”
Expressing disappointment that so little has been said about living out the consecration to the Immaculate Heart, Burke underscored the efficacy of the prayers and acts of reparation that should accompany consecration. Because of the grace of God, he said, these things will “transform lives” and “transform the world.”
“I’m a little disappointed,” the cardinal lamented, “after the act of consecration by the Pope nothing more has been said about ‘how should the people now live this consecration’.”
“It’s not just one act and then you expect a magical result from it,” he noted. “It’s a giving of yourself into the Immaculate Heart of Mary for peace in the world, and it involves prayer, reparation. That’s what transforms lives and that’s what will transform the world… There is grace, there is God’s own life. These prayers… these acts of reparation… always have their effect.”