The votes have been cast. The pope has been chosen. “What will be the new direction?” everyone asks. That is not the question, nor do the answers to that question have great significance. It is not the direction that the Church takes, but the impact the Church makes upon the world that truly matters. Too much is made of internal policies and decisions. The real question is whether the Church is a light to the world? Can the Church’s light dispel the darkness and can the Church’s voice again be heard in the market place? So much needs to change and the task is so daunting.

Time and again I come back to this point of the consecration of Russia. I wait for it and I will continue to wait. When it is done, I will pour out my gifts. Before it is done, the gifts cannot be released. What is withheld cannot be delayed for long. The Holy Father must more ahead. When it is accomplished, the blessings of heaven that are still in my heart will pour out, first in the hearts of the Russian people and then all over the world.