Student Papal Contest

Teologia Polityczna (Political Theology) is a nationwide community bringing together intellectuals, scholars, columnists, academic youth, and artists with conservative-liberal views. It was founded by two philosophers: Marek A. Cichocki (lecturer at the University of Warsaw, program director at the Natolin European Centre) and Dariusz Karłowicz (president of the St. Nicholas Foundation). It is the first journal in Poland to represent a field at the intersection of philosophy, politics, and theology. “We want to look at political affairs from the perspective of ultimate matters,” the authors write in the introduction to the journal’s first issue.

Tertio Millennio Institute is a Catholic institution with 30 years of experience in education, formation, publishing, and public dialogue. Founded in Kraków in 1995 by Fr. Maciej Zięba OP, the Institute was inspired by John Paul II’s Tertio Millennio Adveniente and Novo Millennio Ineunte. From the beginning, our work has combined intellectual depth, social responsibility, and concrete action in service of the common good.

We promote and deepen Catholic social teaching, with a special focus on the thought of St. John Paul II. Our mission is to educate, form, connect, and inspire people who want to translate values into real social engagement. We build a community of students, graduates, experts, and partners who believe that reflection and action belong together.

The St. Nicholas Foundation (Fundacja Świętego Mikołaja), publisher of Teologia Polityczna, has been striving since 1998 to put into practice the ethos stemming from the teachings of St. John Paul II. It carries out charitable, educational, academic, cultural, and publishing activities.

• Charitable focus: Equalizing educational opportunities for children from low-income families in Poland and supporting socially engaged youth. The Foundation also aids children in Aleppo, Syria, and Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine.
• Academic & cultural focus: These operations are conducted under the umbrella of Teologia Polityczna.

The Foundation is also a co-founder of the St. John Paul II Institute of Culture, established on the centenary of the Great Pope’s birth at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome. The Institute was founded and operates thanks to the support of private entrepreneurs from Poland and is co-managed by the St. Nicholas Foundation.

The John Paul II Vatican Foundation is an ecclesiastical non-profit organization under the Secretariat of State of the Holy See, established by papal decree in 1981. John Paul II founded it to help him realize—and, after his passing, to continue—three initiatives close to his heart: supporting students through scholarship programs, developing Christian scholarship and culture, and caring for pilgrims arriving in Rome.

Currently, the Foundation awards over 100 student scholarships annually and has so far funded the education of over 1,000 master’s graduates and dozens of doctoral graduates. The Foundation runs three main institutions:

• The Student House in Lublin
• The Pilgrim House in Rome
• The Center for Documentation and Research of the Pontificate of John Paul II in Rome – one of the world’s first and largest academic institutions dedicated to the teachings of the Polish Pope, housing and cataloging over 30,000 volumes and more than 20,000 museum objects.

The Foundation grants numerous patronages to institutions and events worldwide and cooperates closely with various academic communities within and outside Europe. It is also a partner of the St. John Paul II Institute of Culture at the Angelicum university in Rome and its JP2 Studies program. Since 2024, the Foundation has been awarding the St. John Paul II Prize in the Vatican and co-organizing the St. John Paul II Days at the Pontifical Universities in Rome.