THE DEATH penalty promotes revenge instead of mercy.
In his homily during the Eucharistic celebration at the World Apostolic Congress on Mercy (Wacom), Archbishop Socrates Villegas, head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, condemned the proposed revival of death penalty in the country.
“Instead of mercy, there is terror. Instead of mercy there is death [penalty],” Villegas told more than 5,000 Wacom delegates at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion last Jan. 18.
The statement came after the the death penalty bill was approved by the House Committee on Justice last December.
The prelate urged devotees to value the essence of Christianity through silence and stillness.
“The mercy of God challenges us that the essence of Christianity is not doing but in being silent and still…allowing the language of God to speak to us,” the Lingayen-Dagupan archbishop said.
Speakers during the second day of Wacom include Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Cardinal Quevedo, Wacom Secretary General Fr. Patrice Chocholski, Fr. Sepharim Michalenk and Archbishop Anicetus Sinaga of Medan, Indonesia.
The third day of Wacom will take place at the National Shrine of Padre Pio in Batangas.
On Jan. 19, the 100-foot statue of the Divine Mercy will be unveiled in a ceremony at the National Shrine of Divine Mercy in Marilao, Bulacan.
Wacom will conclude at the St. Catherine of Alexandria Parish in Bataan on Friday, Jan. 20.
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