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May 22, 2024By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Convinced that the "major emphasis" of St. John Paul II's teaching was on social justice and human dignity, seven religious orders joined together to establish the John Paul II Justice and Peace Centre in Kampala, Uganda.
The center, which runs programs ranging from preventing human trafficking to sowing peace between residents and refugees in a camp nearby, is scheduled to receive the first St. John Paul II Prize May 22 from the Vatican-based foundation dedicated to keeping the Polish pope's legacy alive and deepening scholarly reflection on his teachings.
Holy Cross Father Leonard Olobo, chair of the board of directors of the center in Kampala, told Catholic News Service May 20 that being chosen for the award "was a complete surprise. We were just doing what we thought was right. But now we must work harder because we have been recognized, and we must keep alive the teaching of St. John Paul II."
The center is sponsored by the Holy Cross Fathers, the men's and women's branches of the Comboni Missionaries, the Mill Hill Missionaries, the Jesuits, the Missionaries of Africa and the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa.
Father Andrzej Dobrzynski, director of the John Paul II Vatican Foundation's Center for Documentation and Research, told reporters the foundation's administrative council decided a year ago to institute the prize "to recognize significant results by those who deepen understanding of the teaching of St. John Paul II or who live out those teachings in an excellent way."
Karolina Koch, the sculptor who made the prize statue with her husband, said they chose a reinterpretation of Michelangelo's famous fresco of God and Adam touching fingers "as a symbol of the social teaching of St. John Paul II that connects heaven and earth."
