World Apostolic Congress of Mercy opens

Balanga Bishop Ruperto Santos on Sunday said the 4th World Apostolic Congress of Mercy will reflect not just on the Divine Mercy devotion but also on the reality that the host country is facing human rights crises as the fatalities in the government’s war on drugs continue to pile up.

“Mercy is connected with life and life is connected with the environment,” Santos said in a post on CBCP News, the official news service of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). “In general, it is always to love life, to live life and to defend life.”

“So there would be a message witnessing to focus on life. Life must be promoted, life must be preserved and life must be respected,” he said.

The Church official also believes that the global event would be a “healing process” for the country.

“It will be a healing for us … an opening that there is still hope for those whom we consider the least, the lost and the last,” he said.

Around 4,000 local and foreign delegates are expected to attend the gathering from Jan. 16 to 20.

Today’s opening Mass will be presided by Apostolic Nuncio Giuseppe Pinto, with Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle as homilist in the Manila Cathedral at 4 p.m.