Father Prospero Tenorio (right) announces the highlights of the World Apostolic Congress on Mercy that will be held in the Philippines in January 2017 with Father Patrice Chocholski, organizer of the event. (Photo by Angie de Silva)
The Philippines will unveil a giant statue of the Divine Mercy on the occasion of the five-day World Apostolic Congress on Mercy to be held in the country from Jan. 16 to 20 next year.
"This will be the biggest statue of the Divine Mercy in the world," said Father Prospero Tenorio, secretary-general of the Asian Congress.
The priest said the statue aims to celebrate the global event that will be held for the first time in Asia.
The 30-meter-tall image will stand atop a four-story building at the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy in the province of Bulacan province, about 24 kilometers north of the capital Manila.
Delegates from around the world are expected to attend the blessing of the image on Jan. 19. Some 1,000 people from Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas will attend the event.
The construction of the image started in January this year and is expected to be finished before the year ends.
Introduced by the Vatican in 2008, the first ever World Apostolic Congress on Mercy was held in Rome at the time of the third death anniversary of Saint John Paul II.
The gathering has since become an annual even, said Father Patrice Chocholski, head of the event’s organizing committee.
"We have continental and national congresses all over the world," he said during a press briefing in Manila on Dec. 1.
"The aim [of the gathering] is for the people to be more aware and motivated by divine mercy in our works and deeds," said the priest.
"I’m sure the delegates will find inspiration in the Philippines and find a missionary life here, and a paradigm for mission in the next years to come," said Father Chocholski, who is rector of the Shrine of the Culture and Arts in France.
