On Tuesday afternoon, Van Hecht-Nielsen had just finished painting the elbow of a 180-foot-tall Pope Francis overlooking Madison Square Garden, when he took a break for lunch.

Standing near Penn Plaza Park, as benches filled up with officer workers and tourists, he took a moment to reflect on his latest job.

It’s not quite a miracle on 34th Street, but it’s close.

For the last eight years, Mr. Hecht-Nielsen, a 41-year-old artist and Catholic convert, has painted the south-facing wall of 494 Eighth Avenue, most recently with ads for Cadillac. But creating possibly the largest hand-painted mural of Francis ever done, a project commissioned by the Diocese of Brooklyn ahead of his visit to New York at the end of September, took on spiritual significance.

“It’s a great blessing,” he said.

Since last Monday, from 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., Mr. Hecht-Nielsen and his team of three painters, armed with hoghair brushes and 80 to 100 gallons of paint, have been working to put flesh on the mural.