Ahead of World Youth Day 2016, July 26-31, in Krakow, Poland, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz says this will be the World Youth Day «of Mercy.»
According to Vatican Radio who spoke with the Archbishop of Krakow, who served as personal secretary to the Polish Pope, the cardinal said the young people from around the world «wish to come to Krakow to meet the Holy Father, but I also think that they want to come here in this Year of Mercy, because Krakow is the capital of the Divine Mercy.»
This celebration, taking place in the homeland of St. John Paul II, founder of the youth days, will draw young people from some 194 countries.
«There,» the Polish city’s archbishop recalled, «Jesus Christ gave messages to the whole world: he give them to Sister Faustina, but what could she do alone? Then another apostle, came John Paul II, who brought this message, this fire on the devotion of Divine Mercy to the whole world; and now the Holy Father Francis comes, with the same theme, that of mercy.»
Since Pope John Paul II’s pontificate, Cardinal Dziwisz observed, his successors have reached out to young people and actively participated in World Youth Days.
«Certainly, we see a continuity,» he noted, «John Paul II began it, then followed Pope Benedict XVI and now Pope Francis. John Paul II saw that young people seek, ask, you have to give them answers, we must guide them. Young people need a good shepherd.”
