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On 21 October 2023, in the auditorium at the Church of St. Stanislaus B.M. in Rome, Archbishop of Kraków, Marek Jędraszewski delivered a paper entitled “Theological Thought of St. John Paul II”. He pointed out that there is no direct theology of any pope which is preached as his private responsibility – it is always a message on behalf of the Church, which means that what a given pope publishes, preaches or transmits may include his personal reflections or achievements and previous experiences. In the pope’s publications, one can find echoes of the historical contexts and challenges of the time that had to be answered at that time. The speaker emphasised that one of the most strongly contested parts of John Paul II’s teaching today is the theology of the body.
The speech of the Archbishop was preceded by a presentation of the Theological Works of Karol Wojtyła, which was conducted by Rev. prof. dr hab. Robert Tyrała, rector of the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Kraków, and Fr. Sebastian Kozyra, director of the Institute for Intercultural Dialogue of John Paul II in Kraków. Fr. Tyrała emphasized that the recipients of Karol Wojtyła’s works are not only scientists but all people. He added that 22 volumes were planned to publish but it is already known that there will be more than 30. The first volume of Theological Works contains the earliest works of Fr. Wojtyła focused on the person of St. John of the Cross, who had a significant impact on the intellectual and spiritual development of the future pope. The works dedicated to the Spanish mystic from the 16th century had so far been published only in part and never received systematic elaboration. Therefore, in the first volume of Theological Works, we find both known and never before published youthful works of the future Pope John Paul II. Fr. Kozyra pointed out the relevance of the message of the Polish Pope, which thanks to this publication can reach readers. The publication was edited by Fr. prof. Jan Machniak, with the editorial collaboration of Marty Burghardt.
