Where in the World is Russia?

Just as a record entry on the Russia consecration/non-consecration issue, here is Christopher Ferrara's response to Jeff Mirus on the latest insinuation that the word "world" = "Russia" (and here Louis Verecchio weighs in on the difference between "entrust" and "consecrate").  What, you say?  It doesn't matter?  OK.From the Ferrara piece:    Another year, another consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart. And still no Consecration of Russia. Our hopes dashed yet again.        How many consecrations of the world have there been in response to Our Lady of Fatima’s call for the consecration of Russia? I’ve lost count, but John Paul II alone performed six consecrations or “entrustments”: in 1981, 1982 1983, 1984, 1991 and 2000. The last was a kind of omnibus ceremony that included not only the world and “all people” but also “the young in search of meaning, the unemployed, and those suffering hunger and disease,” as well as “all troubled families, the elderly with no one to help them, and all who are alone and without hope.” In short, just about everyone and everything on the face of the earth… except Russia. The thing would be a joke if it were not so deadly serious.       We know, of course, that John Paul II wished to consecrate Russia by name, but that, as Bishop Paul Josef Cordes revealed, “at the suggestion of his collaborators he abandoned the idea.” That is, the ever-vigilant Vatican bureaucracy, led by the Secretary of State, has prevented Russia’s consecration for diplomatic and “ecumenical” reasons, thus overruling the Mother of God.        For neo-Catholic spokesmen like Jeff Mirus — always ready, willing and able to defend the ecclesial status quo of novelty, drift, confusion and decay — the perverse evasion of Our Lady’s eminently simple request is no big deal. In his usual haughty style, Mirus pontificates: “the insistence that the popes are guilty of serious fault for not following the instructions of Our Lady at Fatima turns the authority of the Church on its head… Mary, we may be certain, is quite aware that she was not made the vicar of Christ by her Son.”        Here Mirus reaches new depths of inanity. First of all, it is not the “authority of the Church” that has impeded the consecration of Russia, but rather the errant advice of papal “collaborators,” first and foremost the Vatican Secretary of State, who have no authority whatsoever over the faithful but who managed to persuade the Pope to abandon the consecration of Russia.        Secondly, it was precisely the Son — that is, God Almighty — who sent His Mother to deliver the Message of Fatima to the Church and the world, confirming its authenticity with an unprecedented public miracle, announced in advance and witnessed by 70,000 people, including unbelievers who converted on the spot. Therefore, if the Message of Fatima is to be accepted at all, it must be viewed as involving a prescription for Russia’s consecration that comes from God Himself. There is no way around this.Read the rest.