POLISH UNIVERSITY CONFERS HONORARY DOCTORATE ON JOHN PAUL

VATICAN CITY, MAR 26, 2001 (VIS) - Pope John Paul this morning welcomed members of the Academic Senate of Poland's Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, who conferred an honorary doctorate on him.

In accepting this degree, the Pope said: "I do not wish the meaning of this doctorate 'honoris causa' to be limited to my person. I accept it as a sign of a creative coexistence between science and religion and of fruitful cooperation of scientific and ecclesiastical milieux. It seems that this honor is an even more eloquent sign because all the faculties of the university proposed to confer this degree on me. I am especially happy at the fact that there is now a Faculty of Theology."

Recalling that the basic principles of the university, inaugurated in 1919, included preparing people who were good professionals and who had a sense of civic duty and concern for the spiritual good of the nation, the Holy Father added: "Today this spiritual good ... must be seen in the perspective of the unification of Europe. ... I hope that even in the future the University of Poznan continues to be a place of encounter between Polish culture, consolidated in its identity, and European culture, respectful of perennial values."

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