Our Lady told Lucia: In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.
It is because of this last part that has most Marian, Fatima-devoted Catholics like myself, and most readers here I am sure, promoting all these years a proper consecration. So that in the end there will no longer be a period of world war, famine, and persecutions, but a period of peace. And the conversion of Russia, which must mean the Russian Orthodox Church re-uniting with the Church of Rome.
But...that last statement above does not say "Once the Holy Father properly consecrates Russia to me, FOR THE FIRST TIME..." If for the sake of argument, Francis is a valid pope, the majority of bishops really said the prayer today, the wording of which was adequate, and this is the FIRST TIME the pope has finally done the consecration correctly, it does not follow that THIS CONSECRATION TODAY itself is the specific one that will result soon enough in world-wide peace.
On ground level, I don't see Russia converting to Catholicism, or world peace any time soon, so I have reservations this consecration really took place by a valid pope. Perhaps it was done, but in my opinion it is not yet THE consecration that will usher in the "triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary."
I see two scenarios or hypotheticals going forward. This post being as much for my own meditation as it is for you the reader to consider.
SCENARIO #1: This WAS a proper consecration, by a technically valid pope, as hard as it is to accept him as the pope, and also THE consecration Mary prophesized will happen "in the end" to bring about peace. This would take a leap of faith to believe will likely now happen considering what we are presently witnessing in the world. Perhaps Putin and Zelensky will work out peace. Perhaps. Ukraine will become re-aligned to Russia (as Ukrainians wanted anyway back in 2014) and de-NATO-fied, as well as the rest of Eastern Europe. The Masonic plans of NATO world domination weakened. That is in the relatively near future, say a few years.
Meanwhile, in this scenario, threats of nuclear war and famine greatly reduce for the world as a whole. Especially if the West becomes economically weakened by hyperinflation, because truth be told we are the main aggressor provoking world war/nuclear war. God could now usher in an era of peace, by eliminating that which is principally the main threat to world peace -- that is the American Empire.
Eastern allies (Russia, China, etc) in turn gain economic power, as globalism and socialism in the West collapses with the collapse of the dollar, and the failure of a Great Reset experiment not tolerated by the "consent of the people." That sort of thing did happen, after all, with the Soviet Union/Russian Communism collapsing with the collapse of their economy.
If the Putin-led East becomes strong, the godless, baby-killing West becomes weak. Americans, Canadians, and Western European having to suffer a major socio-economic fallout in the relatively near future that leads to the collapse of Globalism and the power of the Globalist Elites. Such that the likes of Trump, or those who follow in his footrsteps, take back government and liberty, and countries like the US "become great again." Then in a few years there really is a kind of "period of peace" in the world. At least before the final days of anti-Christ.
However, that scenario is very hard for me to see play out. But then again most of us are seeing geopolitics from the ground level, not ourselves being geo-politicians. Or for that matter God. God could be planning a "period of peace" once people take the message of Our Lady of Fatima seriously, even if people don't know about her message. Namely to convert back to God's laws. So that ultimately after a period of peace, the Church becomes strong again, the papacy and Tradition restored, preparing Christians for the final war against anti-Christ. That could happen in the East under the leadership of people like Putin, with the Russian Orthodox ending their schism, and in the West under people like Trump. That is IF THIS consecration today was the one we were all waiting for, going to Fatima conferences about, donating money to Fr. Gruner's apostolate, etc.
But I don't think today's consecration itself is enough, even if it were done properly. Mary also asked for prayer and mortification, modesty, chastity, and piety. We are a million miles from being anywhere near doing that as a society. So scenario #1 doesn't make sense, at least through human reason (vs. divine reason). Especially since the US/Canada/Western Europe is worse than Sodom and Gomorrah ever was, with the slaughter of over 100 million unborn children.
SCENARIO #2: Either this consecration was not done properly today, because Francis isn't a valid pope, OR it was done properly but it wasn't THE proper consecration to usher in peace, the singular act by a pope foretold by Our Lady. The one foretold to be "in the end," that is in the end of this historical period of world war and persecution. I lean strongly in this direction, since as long as I can remember I've been anticipating the Great Chastisement and World War III, not expecting any of these modernist Vatican II popes to actually do the consecration in the proper way.
My perspective would be verified if world war III breaks out soon. I pray to God that does not happen.
But I think we have to step back and remember Mary didn't ask only for the consecration, but for conversion and acts of piety, BEFORE God will grant an era of peace. Which is why I don't think this consecration today is THE consecration we've all been praying for.
Yet, all these thoughts come down to my own perspective as a mortal. Fatima Mariology is above my pay grade. I'm hardly an expert. I've read debates about Fatima in the Catholic fora many times over the years, everyone ending in disagreement. It seems like the endless questions about Fatima result in more questions. So ultimately God knows how this will play out.
At the same time, God also gives to us reason, intuition, and our five senses. My five senses, intuition, and reason indicate we are on the brink of world war and famine, we needing to prepare for that likelihood.
Hopefully at the least, however proper was today's consecration, God's grace will come down on us more than ever to prepare for what is going to happen very soon.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us..