A statue of St. Pope John Paul II was inaugurated in front of the St. Anne’s Cathedral in Debrecen on Wednesday to mark the 30th anniversary of the late pontiff’s visit to the city.
Speaking to MTI after the inauguration, Miklós Soltész, the state secretary for church and ethnic relations of the Prime Minister’s Office, underscored the ecclesiastical significance of Pope John Paul II’s 1991 visit to Debrecen. Soltész noted that John Paul II had urged denominational reconciliation in his speech in the Reformed Great Church of Debrecen and by laying a wreath at a memorial to Protestant galley slaves. The state secretary attributed what he called an “excellent relationship” between Debrecen’s Reformed, Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic churches to John Paul II’s visit. The full-figure statue of St. Pope John Paul II was sculpted by Jenő Kovács.