Poland to Host 2nd World Congress on Divine Mercy

October Event Is Follow-Up to 2008 Conference in Rome

ROME, JUNE 30, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The Church's whole mission must be more aware and more motivated by the mercy of God, says the general-secretary of a worldwide conference scheduled for October in Poland.

Father Patrice Chocholski spoke with ZENIT about the II World Apostolic Congress on Mercy (WACOM), calling it "an answer of the whole Church to the universal call to Divine Mercy, present as the essential nucleus in the Gospel."

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, archbishop of Vienna, is president of the executive council of the congress. With YouTube videos, he is inviting people to attend.

He and a group of other cardinals of the curia have been involved in the event since the first WACOM was held in 2008 in Rome.

Since then, five continental and about 50 national congresses were held. Speaking of that response, Father Chocholski reflected that divine mercy "becomes a source of creativity; it builds new bridges in our societies, cultures and religions. We become newly energized in our missions. It is the love of God pushing us, like a fire ... it is the unique hope for human kind and for the Church."

The priest noted how both Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI have made the call to experience divine mercy. It "should be the paradigm of any evangelization," he said.

The second WACOM will follow a similar schedule to the '08 event, but with the sites particularly related to divine mercy in Poland: talks and Masses at the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Lagiewniki at St. Faustina's tomb; ecumenical prayer meetings in Auschwitz and Wadowice; workshops, adoration, chaplet, and testimonies in different languages and churches of the city; an intercontinental festival on the Market Square of Krakow; etc.

"Thanks to Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the organizing archbishop, there is no restriction in registrations," Father Chocholski said. "In John Paul II's spirit, he hopes we will be as numerous as possible. It is not limited only to official delegations. Welcome!"

As far as after Krakow, Father Chocholski expressed his hopes that there will be a WACOM III.

"The committee of cardinals, presided by Cardinal Schönborn will have to decide," he said. Meanwhile, the priest explained that national coordinators can be contacted. "See you in Krakow … or in your country."

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