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Boston Globe
14-06-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Take me out to the pope party. It's a ballpark celebration for Leo.
Advertisement More than 30,000 tickets to the event sold out within days of the announcement last month, organizers said. Some tickets quickly appeared on secondary markets for more than $1,200, according to The Chicago Sun-Times. (The White Sox, who are in last place, average fewer than 17,000 fans a game.) Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'This city as a whole is in love with our new pope because he is of us,' said Bob Reiter, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor, a network of labor unions that worked to distribute thousands of tickets to union members. Leo's selection has been particularly electrifying to the labor movement, Reiter said, because he chose a name echoing Leo XIII, who was pontiff from 1878 to 1903 and was sometimes called the Pope of Labor. Advertisement The program Saturday includes music, prayer, speeches and Leo's first public address to an American audience, in the form of an almost eight-minute video recorded at the Vatican. June 14 was chosen because it was the first Saturday that the ballpark was available with no major competing events in the city. An earlier date for the Mass was rejected because it conflicted with a Crosstown Classic baseball game and a Beyoncé concert. But the event arrived at an extraordinary moment for the country. Military vehicles are streaming into Washington for a lavish parade ordered by President Donald Trump, while National Guard troops have been deployed to the streets of Los Angeles. Large protests have been planned in all 50 states under the slogan 'No Kings.' In Chicago, thousands of people are expected at Daley Plaza, 4 miles north of the ballpark. Cupich said in an interview Friday that the date was not chosen as a provocation to Trump, whose policies he has criticized. (Trump's birthday is also Saturday.) But the cardinal said he planned to address the rights of immigrants in his homily at the ballpark. Leo's video message was recorded more than a week ago, and has been described as a message to young people around the world. Other participants include a representative of the White Sox, and the choir from Leo High School on the South Side, an all-boys Catholic school that appeared this past week on 'America's Got Talent.' After the program and a time of prayer, the event will transition into a formal Mass, led by Cupich and a leader of the Augustinian order, to which Leo belongs. The archdiocese is the country's third largest, serving about 2 million Catholics. Advertisement Volunteers include greeters, a 200-person choir and nearly 500 lay ministers and ushers to assist in the distribution of Communion throughout the ballpark. 'When you're planning a party for 30,000 of your closest friends, it is a major, major undertaking,' said Bishop Lawrence Sullivan, vicar general for the archdiocese, who has been involved in the planning. If it rains heavily, the Mass portion of the event may be canceled. As of Friday evening, the forecast was for mild temperatures and partial sun. One aspect that has never been in question is the location of the celebration. Leo grew up just south of Chicago in the suburb of Dolton, Illinois, and has been described by those who know him as a dedicated Sox fan. He was captured by television cameras in the stands of the ballpark watching Game 1 of the World Series in 2005. This past week, he was photographed sporting the team's black-and-white cap with his white papal cassock at a general audience at the Vatican. (The ballpark itself has undergone more name changes than Leo, formerly Robert Prevost. Known as Comiskey Park until 2003, it was U.S. Cellular Field, then Guaranteed Rate Field, and then last year became simply Rate Field. In interviews about the event this past week, many longtime Chicagoans referred to it as 'Comiskey.') The archdiocese has emphasized that all are welcome at the celebration. That includes Catholics, non-Catholics and even Cubs fans. 'It's very apropos that Cub fans have to come to Comiskey to get some religion,' Reiter said. This article originally appeared in
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
May Day rally underway in Union Park with march planned to Grant Park later in the day
Hundreds of marchers and demonstrators gathered at Union Park in the West Loop Thursday morning for a rally on May Day, a celebration commemorating the labor movement. Organized labor and activist groups are calling for protection of immigrants and fair wages and carried signs that said, 'Built by immigrant hands, enjoyed by all' and 'We are the engine of this country.' A march to Grant Park is planned for later in the day. City officials warned that motorists should expect rolling street closures along the route of the march and seek an alternate route. The planned route spans east on West Washington Street to South Morgan Street, south on South Morgan Street to West Jackson Street and east on West Jackson Street and into Butler Field at Grant Park. This year's rally and march comes nearly 140 years after the Haymarket Affair and just over 100 days into President Donald Trump's second term, a response, organizers said, to a barrage of presidential policies targeting immigrants and workers. 'May Day celebrates what happened here, what happened on these streets,' said Don Villar, the secretary-treasurer of the Chicago Federation of Labor, at a gathering of labor leaders at the Haymarket Memorial last week. 'We have some old cobblestone bricks back there. If those bricks could talk, they could tell the struggle that took place here 140 years ago. And you know what? That struggle continues.' Three days before the Haymarket Affair — in which a bomb was thrown during a Chicago labor rally that resulted in the death of eight police officers and at least four civilians — tens of thousands marched on Michigan Avenue in a campaign to reduce the customary 10- to 12-hour workday to eight hours. Though the U.S. honors workers in September — with Labor Day, which also has Chicago roots — the May 1886 events are commemorated in Chicago by a memorial on Desplaines Street, north of Randolph Street: A bronze statue of a wagon that served as a speakers' platform during the labor meeting. 'They rounded up all the labor activists, labor leaders, because they blamed them for what happened here. And what're they doing today? They are rounding people up,' Villar added. 'Every day people are disappearing because they're exercising their free speech rights.' Organizers have said May Day should signify that 'immigrant rights are human rights,' particularly in Chicago where, early into Trump's second term, some immigrant workers stayed home from their jobs, fearing that federal agents would arrest them if they showed up to work. 'They are even more afraid to speak up,' said Marcos Ceniceros, the executive director of Warehouse Workers for Justice, a group that helps workers organize for better working conditions.
Chicago Tribune
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
May Day rally underway in Union Park with march planned to Grant Park later in the day
Hundreds of marchers and demonstrators gathered at Union Park in the West Loop Thursday morning for a rally on May Day, a celebration commemorating the labor movement. Organized labor and activist groups are calling for protection of immigrants and fair wages and carried signs that said, 'Built by immigrant hands, enjoyed by all' and 'We are the engine of this country.' A march to Grant Park is planned for later in the day. City officials warned that motorists should expect rolling street closures along the route of the march and seek an alternate route. The planned route spans east on West Washington Street to South Morgan Street, south on South Morgan Street to West Jackson Street and east on West Jackson Street and into Butler Field at Grant Park. This year's rally and march comes nearly 140 years after the Haymarket Affair and just over 100 days into President Donald Trump's second term, a response, organizers said, to a barrage of presidential policies targeting immigrants and workers. 'May Day celebrates what happened here, what happened on these streets,' said Don Villar, the secretary-treasurer of the Chicago Federation of Labor, at a gathering of labor leaders at the Haymarket Memorial last week. 'We have some old cobblestone bricks back there. If those bricks could talk, they could tell the struggle that took place here 140 years ago. And you know what? That struggle continues.' Three days before the Haymarket Affair — in which a bomb was thrown during a Chicago labor rally that resulted in the death of eight police officers and at least four civilians — tens of thousands marched on Michigan Avenue in a campaign to reduce the customary 10- to 12-hour workday to eight hours. Though the U.S. honors workers in September — with Labor Day, which also has Chicago roots — the May 1886 events are commemorated in Chicago by a memorial on Desplaines Street, north of Randolph Street: A bronze statue of a wagon that served as a speakers' platform during the labor meeting. 'They rounded up all the labor activists, labor leaders, because they blamed them for what happened here. And what're they doing today? They are rounding people up,' Villar added. 'Every day people are disappearing because they're exercising their free speech rights.' Organizers have said May Day should signify that 'immigrant rights are human rights,' particularly in Chicago where, early into Trump's second term, some immigrant workers stayed home from their jobs, fearing that federal agents would arrest them if they showed up to work.
CBS News
28-04-2025
- General
- CBS News
Runners take to Lakefront Trail for May Day 5K
Hundreds of runners and walkers hit the Chicago Lakefront Trail Sunday morning for a special May Day 5K Run & Walk. The 3.1-mile course started and ended at the McCormick Place Lakeside Center, and headed along the lakefront trail and along Solidarity Drive to the Adler Planetarium. Celebrated on May 1, May Day, or International Workers Day, commemorates the work of unions and labor groups around the world. It has its origins in Chicago, and a march for an eight-hour workday on May 1, 1886, that was followed by a violent clash between demonstrators and police at Haymarket Square in what would now be called the West Loop three days later. The 5K on Sunday raised money for the Chicago Federation of Labor, and the efforts to support workers in Cook County.
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Chicago protest draws thousands in nationwide push against Trump, Musk policies
The Brief Protests against President Trump and Elon Musk took place in Chicago and across the country on Saturday. Tens of thousands of people showed up in downtown Chicago for a demonstration that began in Daley Plaza. Protesters demanded that Trump and Musk "take their hands off" popular programs like Social Security and Medicare. CHICAGO - Thousands of people participated in"Hands Off!"protests against President Donald Trump and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk on Saturday in Chicago, the surrounding suburbs and cities around the country. Organizers said they expected tens of thousands of people to join more than 600 events planned in every state and Washington, D.C. What we know The demonstrations are meant to demand that Trump and Musk "take their hands off the programs that the middle class and working families rely on." In Chicago, multiple progressive organizations held a rally and march that began at Daley Plaza and wound through downtown streets. Organizers estimated that about 30,000 people gathered near the plaza. Other protests were scheduled in suburban cities including Evanston, Highland Park, Gurnee, Palatine, Algonquin, Arlington Heights, Elgin, Schaumburg, Geneva, Lisle, Batavia, Joliet, Kankakee and Ottawa. What they're saying Event organizers included the Chicago Federation of Labor, Equality Illinois, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Indivisible Chicago, Personal PAC, Sierra Club Illinois and others. "Enough is enough. It is time for all of us in Chicago to rise up and fight back for what we believe in," organizers said in a statement. Key issues highlighted by organizers included protecting Medicaid, Social Security, immigrant and LGBTQ rights, the judiciary and democracy.
