Pope John Paul II and the Divine Mercy

Following Faustina’s death, the message of God's mercy, as revealed to Faustina, began to spread. However, because of the political situation in Poland during and after the war, it was difficult for the Church to authenticate Faustina's writings. As a result, the Vatican imposed a ban on spreading the message of mercy according to these revelations.

Once the writings were examined, scholars and theologians were astounded that a simple nun with hardly two winters of formal education was able to write so clearly -- and with such detail and simplicity about the mystical life. Her writings were found to be entirely theologically correct, and are numbered among the greatest works of mystical literature.

The foremost champion of the Divine Mercy message in our day has been Pope John Paul II.
Not only was he instrumental in having the ban on the spread of the Divine Mercy message lifted, but he made Divine Mercy the theme of the second encyclical of his pontificate -- "Dives in Misericordia” (Rich in Mercy).

During his visit to Faustina's tomb on June 7, 1997, he even stated that Divine Mercy has "formed the image of his pontificate."  Mere months before being named pope, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Krakow, Poland, after years of exhaustive work, succeeded in having the ban on Faustina's writings lifted.

Since that time, Pope John Paul II has promoted Divine Mercy and championed the cause of St. Faustina and her writings. He's become known as "The Mercy Pope."