VATICAN - “This is the mission of the Church perennially assisted by the Paraclete: to bring to all the glad tidings, the joyous reality of the merciful Love of God.”

Castel Gandolfo (Agenzia Fides) – “This is the mission of the Church perennially assisted by the Paraclete: to bring to all the glad tidings, the joyous reality of the merciful Love of God, 'so that,' as St. John says, 'you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and so that, believing, you may have life in his name' (20:31).” These were the words spoken by the Holy Father Benedict XVI on Sunday, April 11, the Second Sunday of Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday, prior to the recitation of the Regina Caeli at the Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo, where he is spending some days of rest.
The Pope recalled that the close of the Octave of Easter, which is considered “a unique day 'made by the Lord,' marked by the resurrection and the joy of the disciples in seeing Jesus” and the fact that John Paul II designated this Sunday as Divine Mercy Sunday. “The Gospel passage from St. John (20:19-31) for this Sunday is rich with divine mercy and goodness,” the Holy Father said, recalling Jesus' visit to the disciples after the Resurrection, when He passed through the closed doors of the Upper Room. “Jesus showed the signs of the passion to the point of permitting the incredulous Thomas to touch him...touching the Lord's wounds, the hesitant disciple not only heals his own diffidence but ours too.”
Benedict XVI then highlighted that “the visit of the Risen One is not limited to the space of the cenacle but it goes beyond so that everyone can receive the gift of peace and life with the 'creative breath,'” and encouraged “especially all pastors to follow the example of the saintly Curé d'Ars, who, 'in his time was able to transform the hearts and the lives of so many people because he enabled them to experience the Lord's merciful love. Our own time urgently needs a similar proclamation and witness to the truth of Love.'” Lastly, before invoking Our Lady with the prayer of the Regina Caeli, Benedict XVI prayed to her as the Queen of Apostles, asking her to “sustain the Church's mission.”
After the Marian prayer, the Holy Father expressed his deep condolences for the plane crash which claimed the lives of the President of Poland along with a number of senior officials of the Polish government and the Archbishop of the Military Ordinariate, assuring of his “ intercessory prayers for the victims and prayers of support for the beloved Polish nation.” He then announced his visit to Turin on May 2 for the exhibition of the Holy Shroud, expressing his hope that “ this act of veneration will help all to seek the Face of God, which was the intimate aspiration of the Apostles and is [also] our own.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 12/04/2010)