The doctorate was handed to the Pope today in the Vatican by a university delegation of Opole, a city of 120,000.
In explaining the reasons for the awarding of the title, university rector Jozef Musielok recalled that 10 years ago the Pope’s contribution made possible a merger between the Opole diocesan Pastoral Theological Institute, and the Higher School of Pedagogy.
The university’s School of Theology resulted from this unification. It was the first such school in a state university since the Communist regime suppressed the theological schools of Krakow and Warsaw a half-century ago.
In his address, delivered in Polish, John Paul II said that in those years he realized the importance that this step would have for the region of Opole. He expressed the hope that the thousands of young people who study there will be able to acquire «science and wisdom.»
