Controversial John Paul statue looks set for makeover

''I don't understand it at all. He looks more like one of those weird creatures from Star Trek." This is one of the more generous comments made about the recently unveiled statue of John Paul II in Rome. The speaker, Sandra Hillhouse, an American tourist, avoids words such as plug-ugly or monstrosity, and she allows that it does actually look like something. She just does not understand it. Many have said worse. So many that the mayor of Rome has been facing pressure to have the statue modified in some way, if not removed. 

The sculptor, Oliviero Rainaldi, a member of the Pontifical Culture Commission, has himself heard the calls, and will respond. He will make changes to his work, alterations to the statue's neck and head. He insists the changes are "minimal", but he has zeroed in on some of the greatest problem areas: L'Osservatore Romano called the head "excessively spherical"; others opt for "bullet-like." The resemblance to John Paul II is there, but barely. By design: ''I wasn't thinking of getting a resemblance but a work that could synthesize, in the posture of the head and body and the draping of the cloak, the way the pope went out into the world,'' Rainaldi says. 

Hopefully the changes will salvage the work. Rainaldi sounds like a good and earnest man of real faith: it would be nice to see his creation redeemed and this controversy brought to a close.