MANILA, Philippines – Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles made an appeal for the abandoned and neglected, including drug addicts, as he delivered a homily at an international congress on mercy Wednesday, January 18.

“Christ embraces the miserable, the unwanted, the neglected, the forgotten,” Arguelles said at the World Apostolic Congress on Mercy (WACOM), which on Wednesday was held at the National Shrine of Saint Padre Pio in Santo Tomas, Batangas. 

“Imagine Christ who embraces, with the Father’s merciful love, the addict fearful for his life, in danger of being snuffed out by a gun held by a former colleague in crime,” Arguelles said.

He continued, “Christ embraces too the wayward girl, deprived of the caring presence of loving parents.”

“Think of Christ embracing the farmer and the fisherfolk, reduced to extreme misery because of a promised progress that excludes poor people like them. He embraces too an antisocial person, feeling never-ending rejection by others,” the archbishop added.

WACOM is a 5-day gathering of devotees of the Divine Mercy, which the Philippines is hosting this year after first being held in Italy, Poland, and Colombia. 

While WACOM tackles a broad range of issues related to mercy, many of this year’s speakers also touched on the recent drug-related killings in the Philippines. (READ: Bishop hits PNP, says Oplan TokHang ‘a bringer of death’)

More than 6,700 people have died in the war on drugs waged by the Philippine government – now a cause of concern for the Catholic Church. (READ: Cardinal Quevedo on killings: ‘We do not practice our faith’). – Rappler.com