THE DIVINE MERCY AND POPE JOHN PAUL II

Today, May 1, 2011 is a very significant day for Catholics around the world for two very important reasons:

1st - Today is the second Sunday of Easter which is the feast of The Divine Mercy.

2nd - Today is the day of Pope John Paul II's beatification.

A Short Background

In the 1930's, a Polish nun named Sister Faustina Kowalska received revelations from our Lord Jesus Christ - who appeared to her on February 22, 1931 - about God's mercy.  She wrote all of these revelations in a diary.  But in 1959, the spreading of The Divine Mercy message was banned by the church, and Sister Faustina's diary was placed on the Index of Forbidden Books which is a list of publications prohibited by the Catholic Church. The prohibition of Sister Faustina's writing was due to the faulty and confusing translations of her diary that were submitted to the Holy See.

In 1965, Pope John Paul II who was then Cardinal Karol Wojtyla intervened.  A new investigation of Sister Faustina's life and her diary was commissioned that led to the complete lifting of the ban in 1978.

Papal Support

cc photo by Beyond Forgetting on flickr

Pope John Paul II continued to support the spreading of The Divine Mercy message.  In 1981, he published an encyclical letter entitled Rich In Mercy. During his visit to the Shrine of Merciful Love at Collevalenza, Italy, he pointed out that it was his special task to propagate the Divine Mercy message.

Significant feasts of The Divine Mercy

- On April 18, 1993, feast of The Divine Mercy, Pope John Paul II beatified Sister Faustina, and on June 7, 1997, he prayed at St. Faustina's tomb in Poland.

- On April 30, 2000, feast of the Divine Mercy, Pope John Paul II canonized Blessed Faustina.  It was also on this date that the Pope declared the 2nd Sunday of Easter as the Divine Mercy Sunday.

- On April 2, 2005 or April 3, 2005 (depending on a country's time zone), feast of the Divine Mercy, Pope John Paul II passed away.

- Today, May 1, 2011, feast of the Divine Mercy, is the day of the beatification of Pope John Paul II by his successor Pope Benedict XVI.

Blessed John Paul II, pray for us!


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References:
- The Divine Mercy Message and Devotion, Revised Edition, by Fr. Seraphim Michalenko, MIC with Vinny Flynn and Robert A. Stackpole, Marian Press 2001, ISBN-0-944203-58-2
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Faustina