“Faustina Kowalska - doctor of the church?”: about some trends in modern roman catholic theology in Poland

Sister Faustina Kowalska is one of the most famous Roman Catholic visionaries of the 20th century. According to her “Diary”, Jesus Christ appeared to her in order to establish the veneration (cult) of Divine Mercy. Complete trust in God and mercy towards people is the foundation on which new forms of worship are based: the image of Christ with the inscription “Jesus, I trust in you”, the establishment of the Feast of Mercy on the first Sunday after Easter, the Chaplet of God’s Mercy, the Hour of Mercy and the spread of the cult Divine Mercy. After the death of Sister Faustina in 1938, the image of Divine Mercy and its veneration spread throughout the world, but from 1959 until the end of the 1960s, the Holy See forbade the veneration of Divine Mercy. In 2000, Sister Faustina Kowalska was canonized, and the Vatican officially recognized the cult of Divine Mercy. In this article the author highlights the life and teachings of St. Faustina, shows how the veneration of Divine Mercy developed, and consider the theology of mercy in the context of modern theological thought in Poland.