As the U.S. marks its 250th anniversary next year, the U.S. bishops will consecrate the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The decision was taken during a Nov. 11 session of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' fall plenary assembly in Baltimore.
Ahead of the vote, Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, chair of the USCCB's Committee for Religious Liberty, said the consecration would take place at the USCCB's spring assembly in June 2026, which concludes on the solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
"To help Catholics prepare for the consecration, we would develop prayer resources, including a novena that will lead up to the solemnity of the Sacred Heart," said Bishop Rhoades.
Devotion to the Sacred of Heart of Jesus, which traces its roots to at least the second century, grew during the Middle Ages and was later extended to the universal church following Christ's revelations of his Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a 17th-century French woman religious.
Bishop Rhoades said USCCB staff are assembling resources for "dioceses, parishes and other groups to engage Catholics" during the 250th anniversary of the July 4, 1776, signing of the Declaration of Independence, through which the 13 American colonies formally separated themselves from Britain.
In preparation, a diocese might for example "invite the faithful to participate in 250 hours of adoration, or 250 works of mercy," said Bishop Rhoades.
He pointed to the tradition behind, and aim of, such a consecration.
"One hundred years ago, in 1925, in his encyclical instituting the feast of Christ the King, Pope Pius XI -- drawing on the teaching of Pope Leo XIII -- referred to the pious custom of consecrating oneself, families and even nations to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as a way to recognize the kingship of Christ," said Bishop Rhoades.
Through his final encyclical, "Dilexit Nos" ("He Loved Us"), Pope Francis "brought devotion to the Sacred Heart to the forefront of Catholic life as the ultimate symbol of both human and divine love, calling it a wellspring of peace and unity," said Bishop Rhoades.
Pope Francis "wrote of how the Sacred Heart teaches us to build up in this world God's kingdom of love and justice," Bishop Rhoades said.
Pope Leo XIV, writing in his first apostolic exhortation, "Dilexi Te" ("I Have Loved You"), carried forward his predecessor's teaching, inviting the faithful "to contemplate Christ's love, the love that moves us to mission in our suffering world today."
"To entrust our nation to the love and care of the Sacred Heart of Jesus as we celebrate its 250th anniversary is an opportunity to promote the beautiful devotion to the Sacred Heart among our people -- and also to remind everyone of our task to serve our nation by perfecting the temporal order with the spirit of the Gospel, as taught by the Second Vatican Council," said Bishop Rhoades.
