Statua di San Giovanni Paolo II The statue of the late pope - who was beatified on 1 May 2011 - was erected in time to mark what would have been John Paul's 91st birthday on 18 May. "I wasn't trying to achieve a similarity, but a work that was able to express, through the position of the head and the body, and the fall of the cloak, the Pope's openness towards the world," said sculptor Oliviero Rainaldi. Well he succeeded, because I sure didn't recognize the figure. www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-13475350