By Christina Hermoso The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has issued guidelines for the national consecration of the Philippines to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on May 13 in the time of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. CBCP president Davao Archbishop Romulo G. Valles
(Archbishop Romulo Valles of Davao, CBCP President / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO) In a circular signed by CBCP president Davao Archbishop Romulo G. Valles, the celebration will start at 8:30 a.m. with the praying of the Holy Rosary. The celebration, the CBCP said, will have three parts: first, the praying of the Holy Rosary; second, the Act of Consecration of the Philippines to the Immaculate Heart of Mary; and third, the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. “All the archbishops and bishops of the country are requested to participate in this event together with the clergy, religious, and families at their homes with the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Valenzuela City, which is under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Malolos, as the center of the activity,” Valles said. In 2013, during the observance of the Year of Faith, the CBCP approved the yearly national consecration of the country to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in preparation for and leading to the celebration of the 500 years of the Christianization of the Philippines, which will be observed in March 2021. The guidelines for the national consecration on May 13, the Feast of the Our Lady of Fatima and the 103rd year of the Blessed Mother’s apparition to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal in 1917, were prepared by the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima with the guidance and approval of Malolos Bishop Dennis Villarojo and Digos Bishop Guillermo Afable, national chaplain of the World Apostolate of Fatima (WAF). The celebration will be covered by TV Maria Philippines and cross-posted in various Catholic social media platforms all over the country. “We are now in extraordinary times, and even the bishops of our fellow nations are doing the Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary because of the sense of urgency, just like the Message of Fatima which St. John Paul II reiterated as ever more relevant and more urgent now than in 1917,” Archbishop Valles said in the circular. Amid the coronavirus disease pandemic, the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, the Church leader said, “is an opportune time to reflect on the current situation that the world is experiencing right now. The simultaneous national consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on this Feast of Our Lady of Fatima must be accomplished. This is our country’s way to implore the grace and mercy of the Lord to end the pandemic of coronavirus and to seek the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary for the healing and recovery of all those who are infected, and for strength and protection of the front-liners and our fellow citizens. We pray as one. We heal as one. We renew the world as one through this Act of Consecration,” Valles said.