Cardinal Burke to celebrate Mass and lead international rosary in central Amsterdam

Cardinal Raymond Burke will celebrate a traditional Mass and lead an international rosary in the center of Amsterdam on September 5. The celebration, organized with Radio Maria, is held as an act of reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and has become an annual event for Catholics in the Netherlands.

The program opens with a pontifical Mass in the traditional rite at the church of Our Lady Keizersgracht, followed by a rosary procession to the Vondelpark in the center of the city. After the devotions, Burke will give a talk on the first Saturdays devotion. On September 6 he will celebrate another Mass at the cathedral in Haarlem and give a second talk.

Cardinal Willem Eijk led the devotions last year, and at the 2024 event the country was consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The gathering, promoted by the Catholic network Radio Maria, is presented as an international observance of the first Saturdays devotion requested by the Virgin Mary during the apparitions at Fatima.

The Five First Saturdays devotion

Burke has promoted the Fatima devotions and the first Saturday practice, which he has described as "a wonderful expression of the maternal love of Mary." The devotion was established at the request of Our Lady of Fatima. She told the three young visionaries to go to confession, receive Holy Communion, recite the rosary and spend 15 minutes meditating on it, for five consecutive months.

Radio Maria said: "In the heart of Amsterdam, in the spirit of reparation, we pray to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for peace and the conversion of our society."

Why the Vondelpark

The Vondelpark was the site of the 2026 edition of WorldPride, an LGBT event held each year in a different city. Amsterdam has an active pro-LGBT scene and was the first place where a same-sex marriage was performed, in 2001.

Father Pieter Zimmermann, director of Radio Maria Netherlands, said there is no "better place to offer reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary than this park."

Dutch bishops taking part

Burke will be joined by Eijk and by other Dutch bishops: Bishop Van den Hende, president of the Dutch Bishops' Conference; Bishop Johannes Hendriks, the local ordinary; and Bishop Robert Mutsaerts, auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of 's-Hertogenbosch.

The international rosary draws a varied crowd, and the organizers called it "a powerful sign of unity, faith and hope."