As choral and instrumental music, accompanied by the soaring voice of a Polish soprano, filled the flower-decorated interior of Ottawa’s Notre Dame Basilica and wafted to its sky blue, star-studded ceiling, Maria Knapik sat at one of the pews, listening with rapt attention. 

It was the April 2 concert and musical tribute to the life and legacy of the beloved St. John Paul II, the first Polish pope in the history of the Catholic Church.

The concert, titled “In the Light of Peace” and co-hosted by the Embassy of Poland and the Archdiocese of Ottawa-Cornwall, paid tribute to the memory of St. John Paul, who as Pope John Paul II was internationally recognized as the “pilgrim of peace” and canonized in 2014.

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As the rays of the late evening sun filtered in through the stained-glass windows and reinforced the concert’s theme “In the Light of Peace,” a flood of memories of her childhood in Poland and her family’s and friends’ interactions with St. John Paul, then known as Karol Wojtyla, came back to Knapik.

Knapik is an internationally acclaimed opera singer herself who has won awards and accolades for her performances in some of the world’s most prestigious venues in Canada, the United States and Europe. A longtime resident of Ottawa, she is intimately associated with the annual concert celebrating the life and legacy of Pope John Paul II.

She was the soloist and the star of the show in 2006 at the inaugural Ottawa concert, held shortly after his canonization. Although not a performer in the 2026 edition, she has participated as the lead singer and has helped organize several subsequent concerts held each year in Ottawa to honour his legacy and mark the date when the Parliament of Canada designated April 2 — the anniversary of the pontiff’s death — as Pope John Paul Day in Canada. This was through a bill introduced by Wladyslaw Lizon, MP for Mississauga East-Cooksville, to honour John Paul II for promoting international understanding and peace.

 Knapik also has fond personal memories of Karol Wojtyla — who assumed the name John Paul II when he was elected pope — during her childhood in Krakow. She remembers the time when he was auxiliary bishop, then Archbishop of Krakow, and was appointed Cardinal in the late 1960s, then elected Pope in 1978.

Knapik’s childhood was a happy one, when she and her seven sisters formed a musical group, not unlike the Von Trapp family in The Sound of Music, and toured all over Europe giving performances.

The youngest of the eight sisters, she remembers singing when Karol Wojtyla celebrated Mass at the Church of St. Nicolas Church, 60 kms from the centre of Krakow, her family’s parish church, which has since then been elevated to cathedral status.

“After he became pope, he visited Poland eight times,” Knapik said. “We performed for the pope on his second visit.”

She was deeply honoured when the pope recognized her and her family personally, and created for her what has become a treasured memory.

“When he came to Krakow as pope, the Curia (central administrative office of the Church that assists the pope) assigned us a place from which to see the pope’s motorcade,” she recalled. “As he drove through the streets of Krakow through cheering crowds, he saw us standing there as a family. He stopped his car, got out and talked to us.

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“When he came close to us, I felt he was holy man,” she added. “He had a special aura about him.”

She said when the pope was a young man, he was an artist with a penchant for theatre, poetry and the arts in general.  

“As an artist myself I could relate to him personally,” she said.

He was also well known for the informal way he interacted with young people, she continued.

“A friend of mine, Fr. Stefan who I keep in touch with, is now in his 90s,” she said. “He was a professor of theology and remembers being taught and inspired by Wojtyla when he was in high school and came to give lectures to the students.”

Knapik said Fr. Stefan has shared with her some of his memories of Wojtyla.

“He had a special way with youth,” Fr. Stefan told her. “He would go hiking with us, and play sports with us, which was unusual in those times. It helped us to get closer to him and get inspired by his teaching.”

Ewa Warta, another friend of Knapik, has a touching story she shared with her. 

“My friend Ewa’s mother-in-law remembers Wojtyla from the time he was a young priest in his very first parish in Niegowic (a town 50 kms to the southwest of Krakow),” she said. “He was quite poor, and his coat could barely keep him warm in the bitterly cold winters. The people of the parish collected money to buy him a warmer coat and give it to him privately. But shortly after they gifted the new coat to him, they saw him wearing his old, threadbare one, and asked him what happened to the new one. He calmly answered that he had given it to a poor man who needed it more than he did.”

Knapik added that her friend’s mother-in-law remembers his generosity and kindness and his service to people in need.

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The selection of music for the April 2 concert in Ottawa encapsulated many aspects of the saint’s extraordinary life — as priest, artist, mentor to children and youth and leader of the Catholic Church — that Knapik and her friends witnessed first hand. 

As Polish ambassador Witold Dzielski said: “Pope St. John Paul II — John Paul II — was a son of Poland, but in truth, he belonged to the world. Born in Wadowice, shaped by the tragedies of the Second World War and totalitarianism, he became a global voice of conscience, one who spoke to nations across continents, including here, in Canada. His pilgrimages to Canada — in 1984, 1987 and 2002 — left a profound and lasting imprint. He spoke to Indigenous communities with humility and respect, he encouraged reconciliation and he reminded Canadians of the dignity of every human person.”