Rome may alter John Paul II statue after mixed response

May 20, 2011, 15:50 GMT

An image showing the unveiled statue of Pope John Paul II at the Piazza dei Cinquecento, near the Termini station in Rome, 18 May 2011. Rome paid homage to John Paul II by unveiling a five-and-half metre tall bronze statue of the late pontiff at the city‘s main Termini railway station. Mayor Gianni Alemanno presided over the ceremony which took place on a day that would have marked the 91st birthday of John Paul who died in 2005. Termini was dedicated to John Paul in 2006. The statue depicts John Paul‘s head emerging from a a hollowed-out cloak or cape. EPA/MASSIMO PERCOSSI

Rome - A much-criticized statue of John Paul II installed this week at Rome's main Termini railway station, may be altered to suit the tastes of the majority of citizens, the city's mayor said Friday.

According to its Italian sculptor Oliviero Rainaldi, the five-and-a-half-metre bronze statue was inspired by a 1993 photograph showing John Paul in a playful gesture, wrapping the mantle he was wearing around a little boy standing near him.

But some people were dismayed with what they perceived as a lack of resemblance between the head emerging from the hollowed-out cloak that is depicted in the statue, and John Paul.

'With much calm we will listen to the opinion of the people,' Mayor Gianni Alemanno said in an interview with Vatican Radio.

'If the people's opinion is not positive ... if they feel this statue is not representative of John Paul II, then perhaps certain changes can be made,' he said.

Alemanno had presided over the statue's unveiling on Wednesday, a day that would have marked the 91st birthday of John Paul, who died in 2005. Termini was dedicated to him in 2006.

The Vatican's newspaper, l'Osservatore Romano, has since led what has become a chorus of criticism against the statue.

While the statue was 'a good idea,' l'Osservatore Romano noted in its Friday edition, it said that 'as a whole, the result does not seem to match up to its intent'.

'To someone exiting the (Termini) train station it will appear as an enormous and indistinct monument rather than a clear homage to John Paul II,' the newspaper said.

A Catholic youth group, the National Association of Papaboys (pope's boys), put it more bluntly: 'It is an incomprehensible work that Rome's municipality should remove.'

However, Rome's cultural affairs superintendent, Umberto Broccoli, defended the statue.

'It is a work of art ... which evokes a sense of welcoming,' he said

Officials from the Vatican and Culture Ministry had approved the statue on the basis of photographs and models that were shown to them before its unveiling, Broccoli said.

The first non-Italian to be elected pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, and hence bishop of Rome, in more than 450 years, John Paul was born Karol Jozef Wojtyla in Wadowice, Poland on May 18, 1920.

Earlier this month Pope Benedict XVI beatified John Paul, marking the penultimate step in the process to make his predecessor a saint.