A new statue in Toledo

The area Polish community celebrated a national hero Sunday, dedicating a statue at Saint Adalbert parish honoring the late Pope John Paul II.

Hundreds showed up for the event, that displayed hometown pride to one of Poland’s native sons.

It’s a larger-than-life statue of a larger-than-life man. The late Pope John Paul II, immortalized in bronze at the foot of Saint Adalbert parrish.

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The artist who created the statue knows that message well. Michal Batkiewecz was born in a communist Poland.

"(I) believe that John Paul II was instrumental in overturning the communist regime in Poland. Thanks to John Paul II, he can live in a free country, just like America," he says.

The artist has done more than fifteen statues of John Paul II around the world, his largest is more than thirty feet tall. But this is his first in the United States. The parish financed the $60,000 statue through the sale of personalized paver stones.