Rome, Italy, Apr 3, 2008 / 11:48 am
Cardinals Dziwicz, Schönborn and Ruini recalled the intense witness of mercy given by John Paul II, on the commemoration of the third anniversary of his passing and during the inauguration of the first World Congress on Divine Mercy.
During the event, which was held at the Basilica of St. John Lateran, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwicz, Archbishop of Krakow and secretary to the late pontiff for 25 years, said Pope John Paul II and “Sister Faustina were two messengers of Divine Mercy who promoted this great mystery. Now we have a third messenger: Benedict XVI who helps us discover the love and mercy of God.”
“St. Faustina is buried in Krakow, where she received the great message of Divine Mercy. It’s the city from which this message radiates to the whole world. This devotion gives us all the chance to pray in order to contribute to changing our secularized society, which lives as if God did not exist,” the cardinal said.
Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna noted that “in the words, in the messages that Sister Faustina received from Jesus and transmitted to the world in simple language,” John Paul II “found the answer to the great questions and challenges of our time.”
“During his whole life, he reflected on the immeasurable mystery of Divine Mercy in light of these messages,” the cardinal said. “This mystery characterized his work as a priest, bishop and Pope. And through him, it touched an infinite number of people throughout the world. He was really a unique testimony of mercy,” Cardinal Schonborn stated. He also pointed out that the Pope’s earthly journey ended on “Divine Mercy Sunday, the feast he himself established in the Jubilee year of 2000.”
“It’s difficult, almost impossible, to not see in this coincidence a ‘sign from Heaven’. Has God not put his signature on an entire way of life, which Pope John Paul II repeatedly characterized, in a completely explicit way, as his mission?” the cardinal asked.
Cardinal Camilo Ruini, Vicar for the Diocese of Rome, said, “Celebrating this congress here, we are certainly fulfilling the will of John Paul II, who put Divine Mercy at the center of his spiritual life, his apostolic testimony and his magisterium, consecrating his second encyclical ‘Dives in misericordia’ to the mercy of God, beatifying and canonizing Sister Faustina Kowalska and dedicating the second Sunday of Easter to Divine Mercy.”