St John Paul II Prize goes to Uganda justice and peace centre

by CNS · Published May 21, 2024 · Updated May 21, 2024

Holy Cross Father Leonard Olobo, chair of the board of directors of the John Paul II Justice and Peace Centre in Kampala, Uganda, stands next to a statue made for the St. John Paul II Prize during a news conference outside St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican May 20, 2024. (CNS photo/Justin McLellan)

By Cindy Wooden, 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 centre, which runs programmes ranging from preventing human trafficking to sowing peace between residents and refugees in a camp nearby, received the first St John Paul II Prize 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 centre in Kampala, told Catholic News Service on 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 recognised, and we must keep alive the teaching of St. John Paul II.”

The centre 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 Centre for Documentation and Research, told reporters the foundation’s administrative council decided a year ago to institute the prize “to recognise 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.”