George Weigel Awarded TOTUS Prize in Poland

Posted: Thursday, November 5, 2009

PRESS RELEASES & NEWS
Publication Date: November 5, 2009

On October 10, EPPC Distinguished Senior Fellow George Weigel was awarded the TOTUS Prize by the Work of the New Millennium Foundation, which is sponsored by the Catholic bishops of Poland. The prize, which was presented at a ceremony in Warsaw's Royal Castle and televised nationally, was given in honor of Mr. Weigel's work in "promoting the thought of Pope John Paul II."

Dr. Piotr Malecki and Dr. Teresa Malecka, friends of the late Pope (pictured above), accepted the award in Mr. Weigel's name and read a short statement from the award winner:

"Thank you very much for honoring me with the 2009 TOTUS Prize.

"The Servant of God John Paul II was a great teacher of the Church and a great teacher of humanity. Perhaps, one day, the Church will acknowledge him as one of her 'doctors,' who taught us wisely and well about the dignity of the human person, about the mercy of God, about the nature of the Church, about the moral law, and about the defense of life.

"The world, too, has much to learn from the teaching of John Paul II -- about freedom's relationship to truth and goodness; about the 'virtue capital,' the habits of heart and mind, that make democracy and the free economy possible; about the relationship between constitutional and statutory law and the universal moral law; in short, about living freedom nobly and generously. These are important lessons to remember as we mark the twentieth anniversary of freedom's triumph in 1989.

"If my work has, in some modest way, helped bring the teaching of the Servant of God John Paul II to the Church and the world, I am very pleased indeed. And I am very grateful to God who, in his providence, arranged that my life and John Paul II's would intersect.

"Thank you again for the honor of the TOTUS Prize."