Which countries are consecrating themselves these days?

May 1, 2020
Canada reconsecrated to Mary, Mother of the Church
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/u...o-mary-seek-her-intercession-against-covid-19

“...this prayer reaffirms and renews previous Marian entrustments, and unites us in solidarity with our Holy Father, who recently established the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, as a source of protection and strength.”
Canada was last consecrated to Mary on July 2, 2017, the 150th anniversary of Confederation of that nation, when bishops across the country joined in consecrating Canada to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

 

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/churc...oronavirus-mothers-day-church-reopenings.html
Public Masses restoring hope
Bishop Jourdan said about 8 weeks have passed since the government enforced social-distancing measures but that things are going much better now.

“People are looking to the future with increased hope,” he said. “I think a big part of that hope is the possibility to take part in the Mass.”

He added that “spiritual food is very important and it was quite difficult for our people without it.”
Churches still open
Churches in Estonia remained open throughout the worst of the crisis. Catholics were free to enter to receive Holy Communion privately, to pray before the Blessed Sacrament, and to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

“Quite a lot of people every day came to the church to pray,” said Bishop Jourdan.

 

In the Philippines the Bishops will consecrate the country to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, 13 May.
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/churc...-consecrate-immaculate-heart-mary-13-may.html By Sr Bernadette Mary Reis, fsp
Details of consecration in Manila
In the Archdiocese of Manila, the consecration will be preceded by instructions regarding the meaning of the consecration. A triduum of penance and the recitation of the Rosary will begin on 10 May. This preparation will then culminate on 13 May with the actual communal consecration.
It will be Bishop Broderick Pabillo who will lead the consecration in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, which is also a Minor Basilica. Bishop Pabillo is an Auxiliary Bishop in the Archdiocese. He currently serves as Apostolic Administrator since Cardinal Tagle’s appointment as Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples earlier this year. The mayors of five neighbouring cities will join him.

“It will be beautiful when all the people God, led by their civil and religious leaders, put themselves under the protection of the Blessed Virgin,” Pabillo said.

Asking for Mary’s help
“We do this to implore the protection of the powerful intercession of our Blessed Mother in this difficult time, especially as we move to the transition to a new way of life after the quarantine,” Pabillo added. “We need strength from above, and we have a powerful intercessor in Mama Mary to get that heavenly help,” he also said.

 

May 30, 2020
https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/...faithful-to-channel-st-francis-convert-others
just a part of this good article:
Cardinal Comastri, at the end of the rosary, then said a prayer of consecration together with the congregation (see here at minute 35.35). The cardinal prayed: “O Mary Immaculate, to you as our children we consecrate our life, our family, our Italy and the whole world. O Mary, always dispose of us according to your heart. And on the last day welcome us into your arms, present us to Jesus saying of us: they are my children. Then our soul will exult and our Paradise will begin. And it will be a Magnificat to God, with you, O Mary our Immaculate Mother.”

Herewith, this cardinal has done an act that was requested by many Italian faithful but that was then turned into an “entrustment” by the Italian Bishops’ Conference, as our colleague Patricia Gooding-Williams of the New Daily Compass pointed out. In her May 16 post, she regretted that the Italian bishops made an act of merely entrusting Italy to the Immaculate Heart of Mary instead of “consecrating” it to her. This act, however, was conducted not at St. Peter’s, but instead in the Diocese of Cremono. “The faithful are still asking that their original request be granted: an Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary to take place live, led by Cardinal Bassetti,” Gooding-Williams stated, after describing the strange circumstances of the “entrustment” of Italy to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

 

from Catholic Sat twitter
Diocese of Pyongyang, North Korea, is to be dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima on 15 August, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The ceremony will take place at Myeongdong Cathedral in the South Korean city of Seoul. - Vatican News

North Korea's Pyongyang Diocese to be dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima - Vatican News
Korean Cardinal Andrew Soo-jung Yeom, Archbishop of Seoul and Apostolic Administrator of Pyongyang, announces the dedication of the Diocese of ...
vaticannews.va
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/churc...-diocese-dedicated-to-our-lady-of-fatima.html
Korean Cardinal Andrew Soo-jung Yeom, Archbishop of Seoul and Apostolic Administrator of Pyongyang, announces the dedication of the Diocese of Pyongyang to Our Lady of Fatima on 15 August.
By Vatican News

The Diocese of Pyongyang, North Korea, is to be dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima on 15 August, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The Archbishop of Seoul and Apostolic Administrator of Pyongyang, Cardinal Andrew Soo-jung Yeom, made this announcement in his message for the liturgical Solemnity. He said that the assumption into heaven of Our Lady “is a sign of hope for us, the faithful, because it has given us hope that if we are faithful in our believing like the Holy Mother, we will be saved and rewarded with eternal life in the kingdom of God (Luke 1:38).”
And, “since this year marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Korea from the Japanese colonial rule and the 70thanniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War,” he decided to “dedicate the Pyongyang Diocese to Our Lady of Fatima after sincere prayer and discernment.”

He also expressed his wish that “the day will come soon when we will be able to share with our North Korean brothers and sisters the joy of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.”

The dedication ceremony will hold during the Mass on 15 August at Myeongdong Cathedral in the South Korean city of Seoul.

Celebration amid history of challenges
Cardinal Yeom said that the liturgical Solemnity is special and meaningful for the Korean Church because on 15 August 1945, Korea was liberated from Japanese colonial rule.

However, “amid
the whirlwinds of the nation’s division following the liberation and the subsequent Korean War, all Koreans suffered unspeakable pain.”

He went on to explain that religious people suffered even more. Churches and monasteries were closed during the war, and priests, religious and the faithful were taken into custody and subjected to hardship or death. He also gave the example of “Servant of God” Bishop Francis Borgia Hong Yong-ho and his 80 companions “who professed their faith to the end,” becoming “martyrs of the persecution carried out by the Stalinist regime of Kim Il-Sung.”

In 1949, Bishop Yong-ho and a group of priests and laypeople were taken into custody and disappeared. The Korean Church has opened the process of the beatification of Bishop Yong-ho.

Even now, Cardinal Yeom lamented, “there is not a single clergyman in North Korea who can perform his ministry,” adding that “we need the special grace of God to correct this sad reality.”

The dedication, therefore, comes as this year
marks the double events of the 75th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from colonial rule and the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, said Cardinal Yeom. He also expressed his desire that one day the Church in the two Koreas would be able to share the joy of the liturgical solemnity together.
Dedication ceremony

Cardinal Yeom pointed out that this is the first time the Pyongyang Diocese would be dedicated since its establishment in 1927.

Even though the dedication ceremony is in the Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul, “it is significant given the spiritual unity between the Pyongyang Diocese and the Seoul Archdiocese.”

The Cardinal also mentioned that he asked Pope Francis for a special blessing for the Pyongyang Diocese, adding that the Pope “promised to offer a special prayer for the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary” on the day of the dedication.

Call to peace
Cardinal Yeom said the Korean Catholic Church has been actively engaged in various humanitarian activities to promote true peace in the Korean Peninsula. However, relations between the two Koreas still remain strained.

The Covid-19 pandemic, he added, has further exacerbated the “ideological division, prevalence of life-threatening trends, and polarization of wealth” which only serve to deepen the conflicts between generations and between classes.

“We have been called by the Lord to serve as “apostles of peace” through prayer, repentance, sacrifice, and service,” he said. “Let us establish true peace on this land by overcoming the anxiety and distrust that have permeated every aspect of our society through the practice of love that Jesus Christ our Lord taught us.”

“I believe the urgent task of our time is to restore the spirit of community through which everyone can peacefully join in union and coexist,” he continued, adding that this can only be
achieved when all are convinced that all humans are created in God’s image.

The Cardinal called for “dialogue based on mutual trust, not force” and expressed his desire that “the two Koreas will open their hearts and start to talk for real peace.” He also invited everyone to pray for the intercession of our Mother Mary, Mother of peace “to bring true peace in our society.”

“I hope the day will come soon when the North Korean Church will be able to praise the Lord again in joy and peace through the protection and intercession of the Holy Mother,” he added.

In conclusion, Cardinal Yeom prayed that, in celebrating the feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, her love will be given as a gift. He also prayed for a “new world overflowing with love and peace” and that God’s grace will be with all those suffering due to Covid-19.

 

from Sister Emmanuel's letter:
On August 15th, for the solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, Archbishop Aupetit of Paris will dedicate the city to the United Hearts of Jesus and Mary during a Mass celebrated in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre. The Archbishop of Paris will also pray for France so that, under the mantle of Mary and through the current trials (COVID-19 crisis, awful bioethical laws, etc.), our nation can find a path of hope and peace. This dedication is part of a long summer journey of the statue of Notre Dame de France across the country, an amazing popular movement that departed from Lourdes on June 1st and is gathering crowds of all ages and backgrounds around two carriages that are carrying the statues.


This original initiative is named "M of Mary". Its aim is to revive hope in this troubled period. Before the consecration, the Virgin Pilgrim spanned the capital for 5 days, enabling many faithful or anyone curious about the event to gather and pray together around Mary. The day of August 15th will end with a night of prayer for France, in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre.


from CatholicSat twitter:
For those asking what the M de Marie pilgrimage which links various French Marian shrines - drawing an “M” on the map of France looks like, here it is. The points of the M, are the 5 major Marian apparitions in France, of Lourdes, Pontmain, Pellevoisin, Rue du Bac and La Salette.

 

Beautiful! God bless the Archbishop.