Divine Mercy (Catholic devotion)

The Divine Mercy is a Catholic devotion to the mercy of God associated with the reported apparitions of Jesus to Faustina Kowalska.

The Divine Mercy devotion is composed of several practices such as the Divine Mercy Sunday, the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy or the Divine Mercy image, which Kowalska describes in her diary as "God's loving mercy" towards all people, especially for sinners. According to Kowalska's writings, this devotion and practices were asked by Jesus Christ himself during his reported apparitions.

Kowalska was granted the title "Secretary of Mercy" by the Holy See in the Jubilee Year of 2000.

In February 1931, in Płock, Faustina Kowalska had visions of Jesus who tasked her with spreading a devotion to his Divine Mercy. Kowalska reported a number of apparitions which she described in her 1934–1938 diary, later published as the book Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul. The two main themes of the devotion are to trust in Christ's endless goodness, and to show mercy to others acting as a conduit for God's love towards them.

The primary focus of the Divine Mercy devotion is the merciful love of God and the desire to let that love and mercy flow through one's own heart towards those in need of it. As he dedicated the Shrine of the Divine Mercy, Pope John Paul II referred to this when he said: "Apart from the mercy of God there is no other source of hope for humankind". There are seven main forms of this devotion:

Proclaim that mercy is the greatest attribute of God.

— Words attributed to Jesus by Kowalska in her diary.

As in the prayers that form the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, there are three main themes to the Divine Mercy devotion: to ask for and obtain the mercy of God, to trust in Christ's abundant mercy, and finally to show mercy to others and act as a conduit for God's mercy towards them.