Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Bishop Joseph Williams will join Pope Francis and other bishops from around the world in consecrating Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary March 25.

The archbishop invites Catholics and “all people of good will” to join him and Bishop Williams at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul for an 11 a.m. Holy Hour, which will include the prayers of consecration. The event will occur simultaneously with Pope Francis’ Celebration of Penance at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, during which he will make the consecration.

The local event will be livestreamed at cathedralsaintpaul.org. Archbishop Hebda encourages people who cannot attend in person to join the livestream “or else by simply stopping at 11:00 a.m. local time to pray the consecration prayer on their own, in solidarity with our sisters and brothers all over the world,” according to a statement on the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ website.

“Pastors of parishes in the Archdiocese are also welcome to observe the Consecration in some way in their own churches,” the statement said.

March 25 is the solemnity of the Annunciation. Pope Francis asked all of the bishops of the world to join him in the consecration.

The consecration is in response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine and inspired by the Marian apparitions to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal, in 1917. She reportedly asked that Russia be consecrated to her Immaculate Heart, or else Russia would spread its “errors throughout the world, promoting wars and persecution of the Church.”

Beginning with Pope Pius XII in 1942, several popes have prayed Fatima-inspired acts of consecration. Sister Lucia dos Santos, the only Fatima seer to survive to adulthood, reportedly affirmed that the consecration had taken place under Pope St. John Paul II on March 25, 1984.

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