Pope Francis presided today over special prayers for Russia and Ukraine, echoing a request first made during the apparitions of Our Lady in Fatima in 1917.

Back then, the three visionaries reported that Our Lady specifically requested that Russia be consecrated to her Immaculate Heart. They recounted that she said: “If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace. If not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated”.

The Pontiff was joined by bishops, priests and ordinary faithful around the world in the consecration prayer Friday afternoon. And to hammer home its universal nature, the Vatican translated the text of the prayer into three dozen languages. Retired Pope Benedict XVI also participated and an envoy of Francis celebrated a simultaneous Mass at the Fatima shrine itself.

The Mass is Francis’s latest effort to rally prayers for an end to the war while keeping open options for dialogue with the Russian Orthodox Church and its influential leader, Patriarch Kirill. Francis has yet to publicly condemn Russia by name for its invasion, though his denunciations have grown increasingly strident and outraged in recent weeks.