The mayor of a town near Malta’s main airport called Monday for the removal of a sculpture resembling a phallus near the road leading to the capital Valletta ahead of a weekend visit by the pope.
The sculpture, which Mayor John Schembri described as “obscene” and “embarrassing,” should be removed “as a sign of respect” for Pope Benedict XVI.
“Colonna Mediterranea” (Mediterranean Column) is the work of ceramic artist and sculptor Paul Vella Critien and was installed on a roundabout at the entrance to the village of Luqa in January 2006.
The sculpture, which Critien describes as a modern three-dimensional representation of a symbol dating from ancient Egypt has rubbed many residents of predominantly Catholic Malta up the wrong way.
Similar works by Critien have been erected in Germany, Italy and Australia.
The pope is to visit on Saturday and Sunday after recent revelations that a paedophilia “response team” set up by the Maltese Catholic Church in 1999 had received allegations against 45 priests.
Nearly half of the cases have been ruled groundless, the Church said Monday, adding however: “For the Church, every case is one too many.”
The Roman Catholic Church has battled a wave of paedophile priest scandals in the US and Europe since last November.(AFP)
馬爾他主要機場附近某村鎮的鎮長週一呼籲，趁教宗週末來訪前，將通往首都法勒他公路旁一個狀似陽具的雕塑拆除。
村長約翰•仙卜立表示，那個雕塑不但「淫穢」，還「令人尷尬」，「為了尊敬」教宗本篤十六世，應該加以拆除。
這件名為「地中海之柱」的作品，出自陶藝家保羅•維拉•克利先之手，二００六年一月置於路迦村口的圓環上。
馬爾他民眾大都信奉天主教，這座克利先稱為某古埃及象徵現代3D版的雕塑，惹惱了多數民眾。
德國、義大利與澳洲也出現克利先類似的作品。
教宗本週六、日將訪問馬爾他，此行是為了造訪當他天主教會於一九九九年所成立的戀童癖應變小組。該小組最近接獲多達四十五件牧師戀童申訴。
教會當局週一表示，近半數的指控被認定是毫無根據，但他們也說：「對教會而言，即使一件也算太多。」
羅馬天主教會去年十一月以來，在美國與歐洲爆發多起神父戀童癖醜聞，爭議至今仍未有具體結果。（法新社╱翻譯：吳岱璟）
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