Chicago, Ill., Apr 20, 2011 / 01:00 am
Home to over a million Polish people, Chicago is bustling with plans to participate in the global celebration of Pope John Paul II's beatification.
Concerts, Masses, processions and special services dedicated to the memory of the late Pope are among the many local events planned in the days leading up to the beatification in Rome on May 1.
“He was extremely beloved,” said Ivo Widlak, spokesman for Chicago's Paderewski Symphony Orchestra, which is slated to perform three concerts in honor of the pontiff.
“Pope John Paul II was a very musical person and he loved to sing,” Widlak told CNA in an April 18 interview. “We as the organizers of the concert wanted to make sure that we played the songs that he liked, that he knew, that he sang.”