On this occasion, Bartholomew I, the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople, will visit Lithuania.
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The theme of the five-day global Catholic Church event is “Building the City of Mercy.”
According to the organizers, it invites reflection on the mission of believers to create communities where indifference and individualism diminish, and sensitivity to others prevails “through concrete acts of love, word, and prayer.”
The event program includes various conferences, training sessions, participant testimonies, services, praise meetings, pilgrimages and thematic excursions in Vilnius, initiatives for works of mercy in the city, and a youth festival.
The main events of the congress will take place on the Hill of the Savior in Vilnius, near the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The organizers announce that this place is important for Catholics because it was home to missionary, Visitation, and Charity orders, and the first image of Divine Mercy was painted there in 1934.
During the Soviet era, the Visitation monastery and the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus were converted into a prison, but today, according to the organizers, with the Congress of Mercy, this place once again becomes a place of prayer, reconciliation, and hope.
It is announced that pilgrims, evangelists, clergy, and community leaders from more than 50 countries around the world will attend the event.
Bartholomew I, the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople, will hold services on Sunday at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Trinapolis, Vilnius. During these services, the new Bishop of Themis, Exarch of the Patriarch of Constantinople in Lithuania – Bishop Panaretos Psaravtis – will also be introduced.
World Congresses of Mercy are held every three years. The congress in Vilnius is organized by the Dicastery for Evangelization of the Holy See together with the Archdiocese of Vilnius.
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