Pope John Paul II's Biographer to Speak at Williams College

Media contact: Noelle Lemoine, communications assistant; tele: (413) 597-4277; email: [email protected]

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., April 10, 2003 — George Weigel, papal biographer and a senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington, D.C., will present, “Man of the Century? The Life and Impact of Pope John Paul II.” The lecture will be held at Williams College on Wednesday, April 23, at 8 p.m. in Thompson Memorial Chapel.

Shaped by the terrors of Nazi-occupied Poland and the subsequent brutalities of the Communist era, John Paul II became one of the world’s great proponents of religious freedom and human rights. Weigel will discuss how Karol Wojtyla’s life has embodied the ideological hopes and struggles of the 20th century. His lecture will cover the Pope’s role in the downfall of the Soviet Communism and his defense of the inalienable dignity of the human person. He also will speak about John Paul II’s proclamation of the imperative of human solidarity in an emerging global civilization marked by secular humanism and pluralistic democracy.

In conjunction with the lecture, Sawyer Library will sponsor a display on the college’s holdings of Weigel’s work, highlighting his writings on the relationship between Catholicism and American democracy.

Weigel is a Roman Catholic theologian and a leading commentator on issues of religion and public life. He is author of “Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II,” which has been published in English, French, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Slovak, Czech, Russian, and German.

He is the author or editor of 14 other books, including “Soul of the World: Notes on the Future of Public Catholicism” (Eerdmans, 1994), “The Truth of Catholicism: Ten Controversies Explored” (HarperCollins, 2001) and “The Courage To Be Catholic: Crisis, Reform, and the Future of the Church” (Basic Books, 2002). Weigel has also contributed essays, op-ed columns, and reviews to major opinion journals and newspapers in the U.S., and has appeared on numerous network television, cable television, and radio discussion programs. He serves as a consultant on Vatican affairs for NBC News.

Weigel was educated at St. Mary’s Seminary College and at the University of St. Michael’s College in Toronto.

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Published April 10, 2003