Site of papal Mass almost done, officials say
More than 100 construction workers and engineers are working restlessly at the old Juárez fairgrounds, also called "El Punto," next to Benito Juárez Olympic Stadium to get the area ready for Pope Francis.
Feb 05, 2016

JUAREZ, MEXICO: More than 100 construction workers and engineers are working restlessly at the old Juárez fairgrounds, also called "El Punto," next to Benito Juárez Olympic Stadium to get the area ready for Pope Francis.
As of Tuesday, the project was 80 percent complete, according to church officials, who estimate the altar and area will be almost 95 percent complete by Sunday. Pope Francis will celebrate Mass there Feb. 17.
"The last two weeks it has been constant hard work day and night," said the Rev. Francisco García, coordinator of the papal Mass.
The celebratory area includes a pavilion that is 231 feet long and 66 feet wide and will accommodate 70 bishops and 150 priests. Its highest point — where Francis will be — is going to be 16.5 feet high, according to church officials.
Internationally known Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, founders of the Herzog & de Meuron architecture firm, donated the design, valued at $2 million.
García said that once the foundation is done, the detail work, such as painting and lighting, will begin. That work is scheduled for next week.
The altar is being built with stone extracted from the hills of Samalayuca, located just south of Juárez. Its base, which weighs about 7 tons, will be made out of four huge stones that already are at "El Punto," waiting to be carved and cemented in the area where the altar will be, García added.
The altar is going to be 13 feet long and 3.6 feet high. At first, it was going to be 26.4 feet long, but it had to be shortened after a review by Vatican officials, church officials said.
Its top will be covered with exotic granite from Brasil and will weigh about 3 tons.
García said the altar and the ambo, the stand from which the Gospel is read, will be ready and put in place by the end of next week.
The papal chair and two more where Juárez Bishop José Guadalupe Torres and Mexican Cardinal Francisco Robles Ortega will sit are already done, but they will be taken to the site hours before the Mass, church officials said.
The chairs are carved in pine wood and have white seating and varnish. The papal chair has the Vatican emblem on the back.
Other chairs that the pope will use at other events such as Cereso state prison No. 3, the Colegio de Bachilleres gymnasium and the Abraham González International Airport are currently being built at the Muebles Colonial carpentry shop in south Juárez.
García said the furniture used during the visit will become a part of an exhibition that the Juárez Diocese will later put into a planned museum.
García said the diocese is working with the business community to put some giant screens at "The X" monument grounds for those who don't have a ticket to the Mass. The area around "The X," adjacent to the Rio Grande, can accommodate about 180,000 people. Those screens are in addition to the 10 screens that will be placed at "El Punto," including four that will be inside the Benito Juárez stadium, García said.
There are no plans to face any screen toward El Paso.--Elpasotimes
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