We invite the greatest thinkers of our age to participate in the JP2 Lectures cycle. In dialogue with St. John Paul II’s thought, they reflect on both what is intriguing and vibrant in his legacy and on what is particularly important, beautiful, and difficult in today’s Church and world. The order of the texts in this volume reflects the sequence in which the lectures were delivered during the 2022–2023 academic year within the JP2 Lectures series.

The third volume of the JP2 Lectures begins with a lecture by Joseph H. H. Weiler, who scrutinizes the attempts at de-Christianization of Europe. Next, Vittorio Possenti analyzes John Paul II’s personalism and discusses challenges facing the contemporary humanities; Mirosława Grabowska presents conclusions from studying the process of secularization in Poland and around the world; Antoine Arjakovsky looks at the Russo-Ukrainian War from the perspective of John Paul II’s encyclicals; Helen Alford O.P., explores the crisis of Europe in the context of Catholic social teaching. Dariusz Karłowicz analyzes the sources of the contemporary political crisis and recalls several solutions to similar problems in ancient history. Rusty Reno addresses the question about the role and duties of Christianity in today’s polarized world. The volume concludes with an essay by Franciszek Longchamps de Bérier, who deals with the issue of dignity of the human person in light of Roman law.

Selected works of Pawel Wlodkowic.

The Struggle for the Self-Determination of Central Europe.

Reflections on the ideal roots of the Polish community, its meaning, and its place in Europe.

The book consists of six essays, each devoted to different figures and phenomena that are key to the development of the Polish form—one that cannot exist without being rooted in the culture of the South and the legacy of romanitas.