Looks like this one wasn't the Bishops fault...

[Unum Sint]

for once, though really we can not be blamed from jumping to that conclusion given the dubious history of Bishop tastes.

I am talking about the new JPII statue.

Still here is a Rome Report in which a sketch of what was suppose to be there and what actually showed up are put side to side and you can decide, its rather evident that the two are completely different.

http://www.gloria.tv/?media=160704

[ketchum]

"a bomb hit the square" xD

That needs to get removed.

[damooster]

How does something like that happen? The sketch looks completely different.

[m.PR]

The artist's drawing skills are better than his sculpting skills. But eh, the sketch was not much better, it too looked monstrous in scale.

[kingtheoden]

I still think the Vatican shares some blame here.  First of all, the powers that be have cheerleaded the plague of formlessness in local parish churches, on all levels. 

The church itself is usually sterile and resembles something between a spartan ski lodge to a stale meeting hall; instead of purposeful directional cues, everything seems 'out there' leaving a person to bounce around searching in vain for the logos. 

Furthermore, newer churches have been built without care to making the parish the center of life for its people.  Therefore, many suburban churches find themselves an artificial home than a true one (Granted, in many cases today, communities have no choice but to accept whatever plot of land is available for various reasons.  But this did not have to be so in the 1970s.)

But more to the point of this statue, it seems completely in line with a lot of the modernistic art that the Vatican commissioned in the past few decades. 

To me, this is another example of terrible parenting: the artist has been allowed to go wild for decades and all of the sudden is repremanded.  It seems to me, some of the Church officials criticising the hollow man JPII would be fine with it had people not voiced such direct complaints.

In any event, you have to admit that there is some poetic justice being done through this scupture.

[alaric]

How does something like that happen? The sketch looks completely different.

Divine intervention?

[GottmitunsAlex]

I still think the Vatican shares some blame here.  First of all, the powers that be have cheerleaded the plague of formlessness in local parish churches, on all levels. 

The church itself is usually sterile and resembles something between a spartan ski lodge to a stale meeting hall; instead of purposeful directional cues, everything seems 'out there' leaving a person to bounce around searching in vain for the logos. 

Furthermore, newer churches have been built without care to making the parish the center of life for its people.  Therefore, many suburban churches find themselves an artificial home than a true one (Granted, in many cases today, communities have no choice but to accept whatever plot of land is available for various reasons.  But this did not have to be so in the 1970s.)

But more to the point of this statue, it seems completely in line with a lot of the modernistic art that the Vatican commissioned in the past few decades. 

To me, this is another example of terrible parenting: the artist has been allowed to go wild for decades and all of the sudden is repremanded.  It seems to me, some of the Church officials criticising the hollow man JPII would be fine with it had people not voiced such direct complaints.

In any event, you have to admit that there is some poetic justice being done through this scupture.

It kinda resembles a masonic lodge.