Pope John Paul II appointed apostolic administrators for the pastoral care of Latin Rite Catholics in Moscow and Siberia in 1991.
Pezzi served as a missionary priest in Siberia for the pastoral care of Latin Rite Catholics from 1993 to 1998. He went on to serve as the rector for the major seminary in St. Petersburg until he was ordained a bishop in the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Moscow in 2007.
Three decades after the fall of the Soviet Union, Russian Catholics constitute a small religious minority. The majority of the Russian population is affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church.
Pezzi recalled an expression of John Paul II “in which he said that when the powerful of the earth meet, the Church prays.”
“So prayer, and in particular prayer to Mary, is very powerful. It is enough to recall the popular expression that says: if you want to reach Christ more quickly, go through his Mother,” he said.
Ukraine’s Latin Rite Catholic bishops asked Pope Francis earlier this month to consecrate Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
In a letter to the pope, the Ukrainian bishops said that they were writing “in these hours of immeasurable pain and terrible ordeal for our people” in response to many requests for the consecration.
Following the bishops’ call, Our Lady of Fatima shrines worldwide were invited to unite in prayer for the conversion of Russia.
Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki of Lviv, Ukraine, has asked Catholics to participate in a nine-day novena ahead of Pope Francis’ consecration of Russia and Ukraine.
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