Cross for Pope Francis' Philadelphia Mass Built in Port Chester

As Pope Francis enters the final days of his historic visit to the United States, a cross that will hang behind him during this weekend’s mass in Philadelphia was constructed in a studio in Port Chester.

“It’s composite gold leaf, which isn’t a precious metal,” craftsman Larry Hoy told The Journal News. The 10-foot-by-8-foot cross gives the appearance of being covered in gold leaf.

“Normally we’d use real gold,” Hoy told the Twinsburgh Bulletin. “But we were instructed to use the composition gold which is not a precious metal.”

Hoy spent about 80 hours building the $7,000 cross, which will feature a carving of Christ’s crucifixion that is being donated by a closed church in the Philadelphia area.

“We were going to have a new corpus commissioned in Italy, but we found this one which works perfectly,” he told the Bulletin.

In addition to the cross, laborers in Port Chester also built an altar for Pope Francis’ U.S. visit, as did students in Somers.

Hoy is no stranger to such religious events, because he specializes in constructing altars, crosses and other items for churches. He built other structures for area visits by Popes John Paul II and Benedict.

“What’s particularly nice about this is that it’s the third Pope in a row that’s come to the U.S. and I’ve been able to do something for them,” added Hoy, according to the Bulletin.