Mon, 08 Oct 2012 20:32:45 GMT — A Central New York craftsmen has completed a hand carved relic that will be handed to Pope Benedict ... is the Tao cross which was the symbol of St. Francis ...

The giant cross, weighing several hundred pounds, was carved by American liturgical artist Ernst Schwidder in 1976. Born in 1931 in St. Louis ... of the find. The wood was chipped, areas were ...

Even though wood ... to make carved wooden keepsakes for his wife to give to her church friends. While he often made doves, butterflies, chalices and, of course, fish, his Christian crosses ...