Pasadena choir gets chance of a lifetime: Performing for Pope Francis
In the vast space of St. Peter’s Basilica, Alejandro Quintero saw Pope Francis moving toward him and knew he had to get closer. The 11-year-old student scooted past others in the crowd and inched his way so close to the pope that he could almost touch him.
Just before a smiling Francis moved past Quintero in his wheelchair, he saw him, reached out, and shook his hand.
“It felt great because almost everyone in the world knows him and a bunch of people from the other side of the world come to see him,” Quintero said. “Because he’s like the closest one to God.”
But Quintero wasn’t in Rome simply to get a glimpse of Francis. He was there to perform for the pope, along with 14 other young singers who are part of the children’s choir at St. Andrew Church in Pasadena or Pueri Cantores San Gabriel Valley. The group and several members of their families participated in a whirlwind tour of Italy, with the choir performing for the pope twice in addition to concerts at places such as Santi Apostoli and the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi.