The consecration of Russia will have its effects. The promises given by heaven should be a powerful motivation to accomplish Our Lady’s request.

Since those promises demonstrate both the immense mercy of God towards poor sinners and the power He has given to Our Lady, so that everybody might understand His special love for her, His masterpiece, and the role He has given her in the latter times of the world.

The first promise is the end of the persecution of the Church and a period of peace. There will be a check to Communist power, allowing the truth to illuminate the world once more. Our Lady’s promises do not only concern an alleviation of physical suffering and trials, through a period of peace, but they have a spiritual dimension as well, in that the truth will be restored and many people will be saved.

The second promise is the conversion of Russia, which will bring to an end a thousand year old schism with the return of an entire nation to the Holy Mother Church. Humanly speaking, it is impossible to imagine such a complete conversion, especially since this particular nation seems to be rooted in its errors and hostility towards the Catholic Church. But we should not forget that Ukraine also belongs to the people of the “Holy Rus”, and since 1561, a considerable number of Christians there have joined the Catholic Church. Byzantine Catholics have also given many saints and martyrs to the Holy Mother Church beginning with Saint Josaphat, as well as many martyrs after the Second World War under the Soviet regime. Could it not be that Heaven has already prepared for the return of all of Russia to the Catholic Church, since many of her ancestors have already made the step?

The third promise is a “time of peace” given to the Church, when the truth will again brighten the world. It will be the “era of the Immaculate Heart”, foreshadowed by the Marian era after the apparitions of Fatima in the first half of the twentieth century.

All these promises are only conditions for the most important promise: the reign of the Immaculate Heart of Mary with widespread fruits of conversion, sanctification, and holiness.

All these promises were given under condition, however, that the requests of Our Lady are fulfilled. In case of negligence or refusal, we do not know to what extent these promises will still be fulfilled. But there are other promises that we can be sure of, the promises concerning the refusal of her requests. These promises, too, are prophetic, and their exact realisation in the aftermath of the failure of Church hierarchy to cooperate with Our Lady’s requests is no less a proof of the veracity of Fatima.