JOHN PAUL II STATUE UNVEILED AT ROME'S TERMINI STATION

John Paul II statue unveiled at Rome's Termini station

May 18, 2011, 15:50 GMT

Rome - Rome paid homage Wednesday 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.

It 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, Italian sculptor Oliviero Rainaldi 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.


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