VATICAN - John Paul II pilgrim to the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow, Poland, near the burial place of Saint Faustina Kowalska: “From here went forth the Message of Divine Mercy which Christ himself wished to transmit to our generation through Blessed Faustina”

Vatican City (Fides Service) - The mercies of the Lord I will sing forever (Cf. Ps 89,2).
I come to this sanctuary as a pilgrim to join in uninterrupted chant in honour of the Divine Mercy. The Psalmist of the Lord had intoned it expressing how much all generations preserve and will preserve it as the most precious gift of the faith. There is nothing of which man has more need than of the Divine Mercy—of that love which wishes us well, which sympathises, which lifts man above his weakness to the infinite heights of the sanctity of God. In this place we become aware of this particularly. From here went forth the Message of the Divine Mercy which Christ himself wanted to transmit to our generation through Blessed Faustina. It is a clear message legible to everyone. Each one may come here, gaze upon this painting of the Merciful Jesus, look at his heart which radiates graces and hear in the depth of his/her soul what the Blessed heard: “Do not be afraid, I am always with you.” (Diary q.11). And if the person responds with a sincere heart: “Jesus, I trust in you.!” he/she will find comfort in every anguish or fear. In this dialogue of abandonment between man and Christ there is established a particular bond which releases love. And “Love has no room for fear—writes St. John—rather perfect love casts out all fear” (2 Jn 4,18).
The Church rereads the Message of Mercy in order more efficaciously to bring to this generation at the end of the millennium and to future generations the light of hope. Unceasingly the Church asks mercy of God for all men and women. “At no time and in no historical period—especially at a moment as critical as our own—can the Church forget the prayer that is a cry for the mercy of God aimed at the many forms of evil which weigh upon humanity and threaten it....The more the human conscience succumbs to secularisation, loses its sense of the very meaning of the word ‘mercy,’ moves away from God and distances itself from the mystery of mercy, the more the Church has the right and the duty to appeal to the God of mercy ‘with loud cries’” (Dives in Misericordia, n.15). Precisely on this account my pilgrimage has brought me to this Sanctuary. I come here to confide all the preoccupations of the Church and humanity to the merciful Christ. At the threshold of the third millennium I come to entrust to him once again my Petrine ministry - “Jesus, I confide in you!”
The message of the Divine Mercy has always been something close to my heart. It is as it were inscribed by history in the tragic experience of the second world war. In those difficult years it was a special support, an inexhaustible source of hope, not only for the inhabitants of Krakow, by for the entire nation. This was also my personal experience, that I brought with me to the Chair of Peter and which in a certain sense formed the image of this pontificate. I thank Divine Providence because it was given to me to contribute personally toward the fulfilment of the will of Christ, through the institution of the feast of the Divine Mercy. Here, near the remains of Blessed Faustina Kowalska, I give thanks also for her beatification. I pray God unceasingly that he “have mercy on us and our entire world.”(The little Rosary). John Paul II at Krakow 7 June 1997 (Fides Service 2/4/2005).