The First World Congress on Divine Mercy has opened at the Vatican this week, with Vienna's Cardinal Christoph Schönborn as its principal organizer. Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate Mass in St. Peter's Square on April 2 to inaugurate the meeting, on the 3rd anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II.
At his Regina Caeli audience on March 30, the Pontiff said that he was placing the congress under the protection of the Virgin Mary, Mater Misercordiae.
He added a prayer that "God's mercy may achieve what is impossible for merely human efforts."
The late Pope John Paul II established the feast of Divine Mercy on the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church, to be celebrated each year on the Sunday after Easter.
His proclamation of the feast came at the canonization of St. Faustian Kowalska, the Polish nun whose mystical visions helped to spread the Divine Mercy devotion around the world.
About 9,000 people are expected to participate in this week's congress, which will be held in the Vatican's Paul VI auditorium.
The organizers hope to spread the Divine Mercy message more effectively throughout the world, with congresses to follow on each continent next year, in individual nations for 2010, and at the diocesan level in 2011.
The Second World Congress will be held in 2012. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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