Chicago's Polish community welcomes Polish cardinal with 'great joy'

Published: 2008-07-01

CHICAGO (CNS) -- Polish Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow found his way into the hearts of Polish Chicagoans during a June 27-29 weekend visit. "Chicago welcomed me with great joy as one of its own," Cardinal Dziwisz said at a banquet for Bishop Abramowicz Seminary just before his departure for Poland June 29. "I was welcomed with words, with music and, most importantly, with open hearts." Cardinal Dziwisz, 69, is perhaps best known as the personal secretary to Pope John Paul II. He served the late pontiff for 12 years when then-Archbishop Karol Wojtyla was head of the Krakow Archdiocese, and then for all 27 years of his papacy. Pope Benedict XVI appointed then-Archbishop Dziwisz to Krakow two months after Pope John Paul died in 2005; he became a cardinal in March 2006. Cardinal Dziwisz's visit, following a pilgrimage to the June 15-22 International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec City, underscored the close ties that exist between the Polish people in Chicago and Poland.

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