Pope John Paul II was the featured topic last night in DiGiovanni Hall at St. Paul's Church as George Weigel promoted Witness to Hope, his recently published biography of the current head of the Catholic Church.

Standing before an audience of nearly 100 people, including many church officials, Weigel first described the interesting set of circumstances that preceded his work on the manuscript.

Weigel first suggested the idea of a biography to the Pope's spokesperson a number of years ago, and after "phone calls and faxes across the Atlantic," the Pope finally invited him to a dinner during which he approved the idea.

That was June of 1996, and Weigel has been working on the book full time since then.

"It's a big book," Weigel said, explaining why the biography took him three years to complete. "He's been a very busy guy for 79 years."

Weigel went on to address some of the book's more significant points, including John Paul II's role in the collapse of European communism.

"[Communism's collapse] was a result of the revolution of conscience that [the Pope] excited in Europe," Weigel said, referring in part to John Paul II's historic visit to Poland.

The audience also heard Weigel's perspective on the Pope's contributions to democracy, freedom, humanism and religious tolerance.