The Jagiellonian University (UJ) in Krakow hosted the main scientific session of the XVII John Paul II Days, held under the motto “Where is the source? Poland, Ukraine, Europe’. The main purpose of the meeting on 10 November was to discuss the questions and challenges raised by the war in Ukraine in the context of the intellectual heritage of John Paul II.

The armed, unprecedented invasion against free and independent Ukraine by the Russian Federation opened up a space for cooperation and dialogue between the Polish and Ukrainian peoples, and brought an incentive to look for the similarities that unite them rather than the differences that divide them”, said Prof. Jacek Popiel, rector of the Jagiellonian University.

The rector of the Pontifical University of John Paul II, Rev. Prof. Robert Tyrała, also addressed the audience during the opening of the session. In his speech, he referred to John Paul II’s visit to Ukraine in 2001, during which the Pope described Kyiv as the mother of Slavic Christianity in Eastern Europe.