The EWTN News portal (January 26, 2026) reports on the Sixth World Apostolic Congress on Mercy (WACOM 6) scheduled in Vilnius, Lithuania, presided over by “Archbishop” Gintaras Grušas. The article promotes a naturalized concept of mercy divorced from repentance and justice, centering on devotion to the false mystic Faustina Kowalska and her confessor Michał Sopoćko. Emphasis is placed on “building a city of mercy” through emotional solidarity rather than doctrinal fidelity, with explicit endorsements of antipopes John Paul II and Francis. This event exemplifies the conciliar sect’s systematic replacement of Catholic soteriology with anthropocentric sentimentality.
Distortion of Mercy as Naturalistic Therapy
The article’s statement that mercy seeks “restoration rather than exclusion, reconciliation rather than endless polarization” constitutes a direct assault on the Church’s judicial authority. Pius XI’s Quas Primas establishes Christ’s Kingship as requiring both mercy and justice: “He gave Him power, and honor, and a kingdom: and all peoples, tribes, and tongues shall serve Him: His power is an everlasting power, which shall not be taken away: and His kingdom, that which shall not be corrupted” (Daniel 7:14). Grušas reduces mercy to therapeutic conflict resolution, omitting its essential link to conversion from sin—a silence condemned by the Council of Trent (Session VI, Canon 19): “If anyone says that nothing besides faith is commanded in the Gospel… let him be anathema.”
Promotion of False Mystics and Forbidden Devotions
The congress glorifies Faustina Kowalska—a pseudo-mystic whose Diary was placed on the Index of Forbidden Books under Pius XII. Her alleged visions contradict Catholic mysticism’s criteria of discretio spirituum, instead promoting the Jansenist error that “God’s mercy is greater than His justice” (Diary, 1578). The article’s claim that Vilnius was “entrusted with proclaiming the message of divine mercy” by John Paul II reveals the counterfeit nature of this devotion. True Marian apparitions like Fatima warned of divine justice (July 13, 1917): “God is already too much offended,” demanding penance—not the saccharine “trust” preached by Faustina’s cult.
Invalid Sacraments and Naturalized Grace
Grušas asserts that mercy is encountered “in a privileged way through the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and reconciliation.” This is theological fraud, since the post-conciliar sect’s Novus Ordo sacraments lack valid form and intention. Pius XII’s Sacramentum Ordinis (1947) definitively established that any alteration to sacramental rites invalidates them. The conciliar “Mass”—being a table assembly rather than the Sacrifice of Calvary—cannot convey grace. What Grušas calls “reconciliation” is mere group therapy, as the new rite of penance (Ordo Paenitentiae, 1973) omits the essential judicial formula: “Ego te absolvo…”
Antipopes as Authority Figures
The article repeatedly cites John Paul II and Francis as legitimate authorities, despite their manifest heresies. John Paul II’s Assisi abominations (1986, 2002) and Francis’ Amoris Laetitia (2016) violate the oath against modernism prescribed by St. Pius X (Sacrorum Antistitum, 1910). St. Robert Bellarmine’s De Romano Pontifice (II.30) states: “A manifest heretic cannot be pope.” These antipopes promote the very religious indifferentism condemned by Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors (Proposition 16): “Man may, in the observance of any religion whatever, find the way of eternal salvation.”
Congress as Masonic Ecumenical Project
WACOM 6’s stated goal to build a “city of mercy not of stone” exposes its Masonic character. The 1917 Code of Canon Law (Canon 2335) excommunicates those who join Masonic societies, which similarly preach a universal brotherhood divorced from doctrinal truth. Pius XI’s Mortalium Animos (1928) condemned such false unity: “The Apostolic See cannot in any way take part in their [interfaith] assemblies, nor is it in any way lawful for Catholics to give to such enterprises their support.” The congress’ inclusion of “pilgrimages in Vilnius” to Faustina-related sites constitutes idolatrous veneration of false revelations.
Omission of Final Ends and Ecclesial Authority
Nowhere does the article mention hell, judgment, or the necessity of membership in the Catholic Church for salvation—omissions revealing its naturalistic foundation. Pope Boniface VIII’s Unam Sanctam (1302) remains dogma: “Outside the Church there is no salvation.” Grušas’ focus on “solidarity rather than fear” inverts the Gospel order: “Fear Him Who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). The “shared mission entrusted to the whole Church” replaces the hierarchy’s teaching authority with a democratized spirituality, violating Pius X’s condemnation of modernism in Lamentabili Sane (Proposition 53): “The organic constitution of the Church is subject to change.”
Conclusion: Mercy Without Truth Is Apostasy
This congress epitomizes the conciliar sect’s apostasy by reducing Catholicism to sentimental activism. As St. Augustine warned: “If you believe what you like in the Gospel and reject what you don’t like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself” (Homily 49). True mercy requires adherence to the unchanging faith summarized in the Oath Against Modernism: “I hold with certainty and sincerely confess that faith is not a blind sentiment of religion welling up… but a real assent of the intellect to truth.” Until the conciliar sect abandons its false mercy and returns to the integral Catholic faith, its works remain stones in Babel—not living rocks in the Church founded on Peter.
Source:
Why the world needs mercy now: U.S.-born archbishop explains (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 26.01.2026