The Deliverance Ne†work

The John Paul II Centre for Divine Mercy came into existence on February 22, 2006, the feast of the Chair of St. Peter. This feast speaks of Peter’s profession of faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God and of his being commissioned as Pope, the one through whom Christ would found His Church, establish the Deposit of Faith and begin the Apostolic Succession that would bind and loose with regards to faith and morals.(Mt.16:13-20) It was also seventy five years to the day that Jesus had appeared to St. Faustina Kowalska, a contemplative Polish nun, instructing her to have painted the image she was seeing: Jesus who is the Divine Mercy.

This message of Mercy is one that was very close to the Holy Father’s heart. As Archbishop of Krakow he steered the devotion to Rome for approval in 1978, a few months before becoming pope. On the first Sunday after Easter in the year 2000 he canonized Faustina as the first saint of the new millennium and declared that Sunday to be Divine Mercy Sunday. The pope commented at the time, that it was the happiest day of his life and from that point believed he had come near to the end of his work. Pope John Paul died on the vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday, April 2005.

In his encyclical, “Rich in Mercy”, the Holy Father states: “The Message of Divine Mercy has always been near and dear to me… which I took with me to the See of Peter and which in a sense forms the image of this Pontificate”.

To situate Pope John Paul fully in this message of mercy it is important to note that St. Faustina, in an encounter with Jesus, asked how this message was to be brought to the world. He told her that a spark would come from Poland that would usher in this message for the end times. Many believe that Pope John Paul was that spark.

The Centre then is named for this great mercy pope who occupied the Chair of St. Peter for more than 25 years as, no doubt, one of its greatest shepherds.

 “The Church of our time, (…) must become more motivated and profoundly conscious of the need to bear witness in her whole mission to God’s mercy”

(Dives in Misericordia, 12)

 The John Paul II Centre for Divine Mercy is located in Alfred, Ontario, Canada.