Today in History: May 1

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS – On this day in history in 1931, the 102-storey Empire State building in New York, was officially opened.

At the time the world’s tallest building.

When it was completed in April that year, the Empire State broke every record in the book. At 1250 feet, it topped the Chrysler building by 200 feet and the third tallest, the Manhattan company building at 40 wall street, by more than 300 feet.

And, fast forward to 2011 – Pope John Paul II was beatified by his successor Pope Benedict XVI in front of several hundred thousand people packed into St. Peter’s Square and surrounding streets.

Benedict proclaimed in Latin – “From now on Pope John Paul shall be called ‘blessed’.”

The red and white flag of his native Poland predominated but the crowd included Roman Catholics from as far away as Australia.

Some had camped out in the area around St. Peter’s, others had spent the night in prayer and contemplation of the life of works of the late Pope.