The 4th World Apostolic Congress of Mercy (Wacom IV) will be held Jan. 16-20 in the Philippines.
The congress will open at the Manila Cathedral tomorrow; it will then move to the University of Santo Tomas on Jan. 17, in Batangas on the 18th, in Bulacan on the 19th, and in Bataan on the 20th.
Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, archbishop of Lyon, France, as his special envoy.
Meanwhile, Vienna Cardinal Christoph Schonborn, OP, the head of Wacom and famous for having been the general editor of the Catechism of the Catholic Church under St. John Paul II, will concelebrate the closing Mass on the 20th.
Around 4,000 local and foreign delegates are expected to attend.
Convened every three years, Wacom is a gathering of Divine Mercy devotees and promoters.
Dominican jubilee
Pope Francis will lead the solemn closing ceremonies of the jubilee of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) with a High Mass on Jan. 21 at the St. John Lateran papal basilica in Rome.
On Jan. 21, 1217, St. Dominic received the bull “Gratiarum Largitori Omnium” from Pope Honorius III, which first speaks of the “Order of Preachers.”
The 800th anniversary of this papal document has been chosen the closing date for the Dominican Jubilee.
Hundreds of members of the Dominican family from all over the world—friars, brethren, sisters, lay, clerical fraternity, and alumni of Dominican schools—
are now holding a pilgrimage of Dominican sites in Europe and will descend in Rome starting tomorrow in the run-up to the solemn closure ceremonies.
The International Congress on the Mission of the Order will open tomorrow at the Angelicum, the Dominicans’ pontifical university in Rome.
On Jan. 20, eve of the solemn closure ceremonies, there will be a vigil at the Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, the famous gothic Dominican church near the Pantheon; the church is where St. Catherine of Siena, patroness of Italy, and Fra Angelico, patron saint of artists, as well as popes and even Cardinal Torquemada are buried.
Leading all of the closing activities is the Master of the Order, Fr. Bruno Cadore, a French Dominican physician.
Santo Niño de Providencia
Santo Niño de Providencia chapel at 65 Aurora Pijuan St., BF Resort Village, Las Piñas City, will mark the feast of the Infant Jesus on Jan. 27.
The chapel is under the care of Lornacita Gonzales and her family. They invite devotees to join.
There will be Mass at 7:30 a.m. to be officiated by Fr. Stephen C. Villanueva; at 9:30 a.m., healing Mass to be led by Fr. Gerard Deveza; at 10:30 a.m., healing and anointing of the sick and distribution of novena and holy oil to devotees.
At 1:45 p.m., there will be a motorcade to Mary Mother of the Church Parish for the 3 p.m. concelebrated thanksgiving Mass.
Breast cancer survivor
Reader Betsy Reyes writes to thank Santo Niño de Providencia:
“I am a breast cancer survivor and I was introduced to Santo Niño by the Carmelites of Bacolod when I was diagnosed with cancer in January 1999. I met Josie Darang (in whose memory her column, Purely Personal, is being continued by the Inquirer Lifestyle staff —ed.) when my husband and I visited the chapel of Santo Niño in February 1999.
“She featured my story in her column on Feb. 28, 1999. I survived, and I have been cancer-free for 17 years now.
“Thanks to the Santo Niño!”
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