Church of God the Merciful Father

Lto the church of God the Merciful Father, better known as the Jubilee Church or Dives in mercy, is a Catholic place of worship located in Rome in the Alessandrino district. The diaconate of God the Merciful Father, established in 2001 by Pope John Paul II, insists on it. The characteristics of this Church are many. Often only those of a technical nature are considered, as it is truly an engineering masterpiece as well as an architectural one, but those of a spiritual and liturgical nature are also of considerable importance. Although it is a modern church, it follows in a certain sense the classic image of the Catholic religious building, in particular the "Gothic" for its height and its façade slender at the top with the bell tower next to it. The shape of the nave takes up the idea of ​​a boat, the "boat of Peter". In the Christian tradition the "BOAT" has always represented the Church as the "People of God" led by "Peter", the Pope.

This Church, commissioned by Pope John Paul II to commemorate the Jubilee of 2000, in the architect's idea, was to represent the "boat of the Church" that sails the seas of the Third Millennium and, in a metaphorical way, thanks to its position, the "boat of the local church" (the parish) that sails the neighborhood. The three sails that overlook the nave and the weekday chapel symbolize the Trinity and the largest sail is intended to give the sensation of God's protection over the Christian community. In fact, although the entire structure is covered in a consistent way, both vertically and horizontally by glass, the sun never enters directly into the Church, except at a particular time of the afternoon, especially in summer, when, from a small window placed high up behind the presbytery, its light from the outside illuminates the crucifix placed inside. The Tabernacle is in an apparently non-central position, because it is located in the right corner of the weekday chapel; This is not because it is not important, but exactly the opposite, since from that position it is also possible to see it from the main nave.