Will Divine Mercy save our world? Yes and no

FOR the 5th Asian Apostolic Congress on Mercy (Aacom) on October 14 to 19 in Cebu City's convention center, the opening event was held elsewhere. Delegates from several countries gathered for the 3 p.m. Divine Mercy chaplet prayer and 4 p.m. concelebrated Mass at the open-air arena of the Minor Basilica of Santo Niño de Cebu. It venerates the 30-centimeter Holy Child wooden statue given in 1521 by explorer Ferdinand Magellan to island chieftain Rajah Humabon and his wife on their baptism as the first Christians of the archipelago.

Lead Mass celebrant was Archbishop Charles Brown, the Apostolic Nuncio representing Pope Francis in the Philippines, who flew in at lunchtime and left soon after the Mass, accommodating in his hectic schedule the conference on the Divine Mercy devotion given by Jesus Christ to Polish nun St. Maria Faustina Kowalska (1905–1938) in the 1930s, recounted in her diary along with visions, messages, miracles and hidden stigmata, the wounds of Christ crucified.