March 30, 2004: Last Wednesday Pope John Paul II made a rare exception and accepted a political award, the extraordinary international "Karlspreis" ["Charlemagne prize"] from the city of Aachen, Charlemagne's old capital city. The "Karlspreis" is named after Charlemagne ["Karl der Große" in German] and is given annually to people who, like Charlemagne, contribute to the concept of European unity and peace. The "Karlspreis" is considered one of Europe's top honorary awards. Previous recipients in the 54 year history of the award include Germany's first chancellor Konrad Adenauer, Winston Churchill, King Juan Carlos of Spain, Leo Tindemans, Henry Kissinger, Tony Blair, Francois Mitterand and Bill Clinton.

John Paul II received the first extraordinary international "Karlspreis" ever awarded for "his outstanding contribution to European integration and his special effort to exert influence from Europe on the world order" ("Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung", March 25, 2004). In presenting the award, Aachen's mayor Jürgen Linden emphasized that Europe experiences the pope as "one of the great spiritual leaders and as a vital and constructive focal point of European development, as a guiding star – especially for many young people – in the search for their way of life" (ibid.).

For Germany's television network ZDF, Pope John Paul's opinion "always carried weight on the big European construction site. Even today his rumblings are heard in the halls of Europe's house when the pro and contra of mentioning God in the [European Union] constitution are discussed. The visionary of an undivided Christian continent, the itinerant preacher Pope John Paul II caused the Bolshevist building owners to tremble and shook the iron curtain."

In his acceptance speech, which the pope gave in German, John Paul described his vision for Europe "as a spiritual union, in which Christian politicians of all [European] countries conduct themselves in the awareness of the human riches that come with faith." The pope exhorted his listeners to reflect on Europe's Christian roots and not to leave God out of the European constitution. He also emphasized Europe's greater role in world events: "May Europe, which has suffered so many wars in its history, be an active factor in the peace of the world."