Parishoners pray for Papa Francisco
Spanish speaking parishoners at Syracuse's St. Anthony of Padua pray for the new Papa Francisco for the first time on Sunday
/ Photojournalist Quindell Williams
The Syracuse church that offers mass in Spanish had a larger than usual crowd on Sunday, perhaps because of the new Pope.
When Rev. Robert Chryst said mass at eleven Sunday morning at St. Anthony of Padua Church, it was the first time, officially, that parishoners could pray for the new pope, Papa Francisco, in Spanish.
St. Anthony is an old, but elegant church on Syracuse's south side, next to a long-closed parochial school on Midland Avenue at West Colvin Street, near Kirk Park.
The Spanish mass came just hours after Pope Francis offered his first Sunday blessing from the Vatican window. The Pope comes from Argentina, but his parents were Italian immigrants. Sunday morning he spoke to a crowd of over 100,000, but only in Italian.
