CONCOURSE — Bronxites prayed for Pope Francis to come conduct mass at Yankee Stadium during an interfaith ceremony just outside of the ballpark on Tuesday.
The pontiff is planning a trip to the United States in September, and the 161st Street Business Improvement District organized Tuesday's pray-in to try to ensure that his trip includes a stop in The Bronx.
Cary Goodman, executive director of the BID, described papal masses at Yankee Stadium as a New York tradition. The venue previously hosted Pope Benedict XVI in 2008, Pope John Paul II in 1979 and Pope Paul VI in 1965.
“Welcoming the pope and having a huge mass for the people of the city is a part of the history of The Bronx," he said, "and I just don’t want to lose it.”
Attendees at the ceremony included Archbishop Angelo Rosario of the Bronx Clergy Task Force and Reverend Frederick Crawford of the Union Grove Missionary Baptist Church on Hoe Avenue, who described a papal mass at Yankee Stadium as a great opportunity to show off how much the borough is improving.
"We are rebuilding The Bronx," he said, "and we want to show that to the world."
Students from the Highbridge Advisory Council Head Start program came to the ceremony as well, chanting "Viva El Papa!" as they waved around pictures of the pope.
The Archdiocese of New York is still waiting on a detailed schedule for the pope's visit, but he will likely arrive in New York on the evening of Sept. 24 and stay for between 24 and 36 hours, according to Communications Director Joseph Zwilling.
Although Zwilling appreciated the effort to hold a papal mass at Yankee Stadium, he remained skeptical about its chances for success, saying that indications so far have been that the "big mass" of the pope's trip will be in Philadelphia.
The main reason for the pontiff’s visit is Philadelphia’s World Meeting of Families, so the mass there should be the climax of his visit, making a grand ceremony at Yankee Stadium unlikely, Zwilling explained.
“We do anticipate a mass being celebrated in New York, with a location still to be confirmed,” he said in an email.
Goodman maintained that Yankee Stadium would be the only place in New York that could host a major gathering of the faithful for Pope Francis and was particularly enthusiastic about his Argentinian heritage, given the strong Hispanic community in The Bronx.
The BID has already petitioned and put up Pope Francis posters around Concourse in an effort to get him to perform mass at Yankee Stadium, Goodman said.
"What else is there to do, really, but pray?" he asked.
