St. Patrick’s Cathedral restored in time for pope’s visit

A three-year restoration project at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York and one of the country’s most well-known churches, is coming to an end just in time for a late September visit from Pope Francis. Most of the scaffolding has already been taken down and officials are steadfast in saying it will be done in time. The project was officially announced on St. Patrick’s Day 2012 and got started soon after. One tricky aspect of the project was that the cathedral stayed open to the public the entire time. That meant work being done around daily Masses and while 5 million visitors a year passed through.

Sometimes you do things, and no one really cares. When the pope comes, hopefully he will care, right? He’s going to look at it and say, ‘Wow, this really looks good.’

Jeff Keeley, a foreman for the scaffolding company

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