Book marking Pope John Paul II’s 100th birth anniversary presented in Budapest

The life of St. John Paul II was an “open book”, Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén said at a presentation of a book marking the former pope’s 100th birth anniversary, in Budapest on Tuesday.

John Paul II’s decades of service to the church, his role on the world political stage, his pastoral visits and theological teachings were known all over the world, Semjen said at the event in Budapest’s Inner City Parish Church.

The Second Vatican Council allowed the Catholic Church to “open a window to” the modern world, Semjen said, adding that this opening up of the church had become a reality under John Paul II’s many foreign trips.

Jerzy Snopek, Poland’s ambassador to Hungary, said that

whatever differences Poles may have amongst each other, they all agree that they had the Polish pope to thank for the values of human dignity and freedom.