The world Divine Mercy centre at Lagiewniki, outside the Polish city
of Krakow, said its website had been knocked out last week by Islamist
computer hackers, who blocked its transmission of Masses and prayers
with English and Arabic slogans.
"The site of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy was completely blocked,
and the attack was claimed by Islamist extremists using a server
registered in Belgium," the sanctuary's spokesman, Sr Elzbieta Siepak,
told Poland's Catholic information agency, KAI.
"Not all its elements
are accessible again yet, although several thousand Internet users visit
it daily in its seven language sections."
The Divine Mercy cult, which was banned by the Vatican between 1959
and 1978, is marked annually on the second Sunday after Easter and
estimated to have 100 million followers worldwide via thousands of
parish prayer groups.