Final Preparations Wrapped Up For Tuesday's Mass Of Installation For Next Archbishop Of Philadelphia Nelson Perez
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Catholic community is preparing to witness history. Tuesday is the mass of installation for Nelson Perez, the next archbishop of Philadelphia.
The sacred space of the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul will come alive Tuesday as Philadelphia welcomes its new Roman Catholic Archbishop.
DroneWatch 3 soared high above the interior of the basilica where 2,500 people are expected to see the passing of the torch from Archbishop Charles Chaput to Bishop Perez.
On the ground, preparations ticked away like clockwork.
It was the buzz of last-minute to-dos -- a pass of the vacuum on the pews as workers tended to the finest of details in the magnificent building.
"Lots of people are involved," said Father Dennis Gill.
Gill, the cathedral rector, runs the show here.
His staff paid particular attention to the bishop's chair, or cathedra, which got a once-over of polish and some more vacuuming.
Above the seat itself, Archbishop Perez's coat of arms will eventually be displayed.
The actual moment of transition is said to be simple, almost somewhat discreet as compared with the afternoon's fanfare.
"The archbishop will greet everyone with a welcome and will ask for the apostolic letter of Pope Francis to be read, which named Perez our archbishop," Father Gill said. "And then after that letter is shown to everyone, the new archbishop is lead to the cathedra where it'll allow the new archbishop to take his seat and that's it."
On Sunday, Chaput, who has led his flock of more than 1.5 million Roman Catholics for nearly nine years, celebrated his final mass as archbishop.
"He was very clear in teaching and preaching our Catholic faith and he took seriously issues of recovery in the Archdiocese, financial recovery especially, and also a recovery of morale after some very difficult moments in our history," Gill said.
More than 3,000 people are expected to pack the pews Tuesday.
"This is a rather huge event for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. We're expecting an overflow crowd for the installation," Gill said.
Watch the mass of installation on CBSN Philly starting at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.
CBS3's Joe Holden and Greg Argos contributed to this report.
