'Let's think about it': Pope Francis has one special Year of Mercy request

'...a hospital, a home for the aged or abandoned children, a school where there isn't one, a home for recovering drug addicts...'

During the celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday, Pope Francis asked Catholic dioceses across the globe to establish a permanent memorial for the Year of Mercy by establishing a hospital, school in a needy area or a retirement center.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The pontiff explained the idea came to him in the midst of a meeting with a charity. He mentioned it at the vigil at the World Apostolic Congress of Mercy and followers of the Divine Mercy devotion.

His Holiness commented: "how beautiful it would be if in every diocese there were a structural work of mercy: a hospital, a home for the aged or abandoned children, a school where there isn't one, a home for recovering drug addicts - so many things could be done. ... Let's think about it and speak with the bishops."

The next day, the pontiff again called for charitable hearts when he announced Catholic parishes throughout Europe would be asked to take a special collection on April 24 as a sign of closeness with people suffering the war in the Ukraine.

Pope Francis prayed the collection "could help, without further delay, promote peace and respect for the law in that harshly tried land."

He then recalled the more we get in mercy, "the more are called to share it with others; it cannot be kept hidden or kept only for ourselves."

His Holiness spoke of God's mercy, saying Christ could be most easily recognized in "those who are most distant, weak, alone, confused and marginalised."

 He admitted that when people speak about refugees and claim they should sleep on the street or should be thrown out, "It pains the heart ...  Is this of Jesus?" he asks.

Pope Francis spoke of Thomas, who believed Christ had risen after touching the wounds. "[A] faith incapable of entering the wounds of the Lord is not faith," the Pope announced. "A faith unable to be merciful as a sign of the merciful wounds of the Lord, is not faith. It's an idea, an ideology.

"If we want [sic] truly want to believe and have faith, we must draw near and touch those wounds, caress those wounds, but also lower our heads and let others touch our wounds."

The next morning, during the Divine Mercy Sunday Mass, Pope Francis explained the story of God's mercy "remains an open book." By sharing the Gospel and sharing works of mercy, "which are the hallmarks of the Christian life," people can add to the Gospel's good news.

Though the pontiff acknowledges today's Christians experience "an interior struggle between a closed heart and the call of love to open doors closed by sin," Christ melts away all uncertainty and leaves only peace, mercy and healing.

"In Christ, we are born to be instruments of reconciliation, to bring the Father's forgiveness to everyone, to reveal his loving face through concrete gestures of mercy," Pope Francis explained. "Truly, God's mercy is forever; it never ends, it never runs out, it never gives up when faced with closed doors, and it never tires."

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