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On October 6,
2004, pope John Paul II blessed a big statue
of Saint Teresa of the Andes which was placed
at the exterior of the apse of St. Peter's basilica
in Rome. |
John
Paul II blesses the statue of Saint Teresa
of the Andes
(picture
© Osservatore Romano)
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| The basilica of Saint
Peter in Rome already has an important number of statues
of saints. The idea to add a statue of Saint Teresa
of the Andes came from the ambassador of Chile to
the Holy See. With the financial help of benefactors,
a big statue of marble was sculpted by the Chilean
sculptor Juan Fernández Fox who belongs to
Teresa's family. The statue is 5.50 meters high and
was sculpted in a block of Carara marble weighting
60 tons.
On October 6, 2004, pope
John Paul II blessed the statue in the presence of
many people, including the president of the Conference
of Bishops of Chile (Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz
Ossa), the minister of foreign affairs of Chile and
the ambassador of Chile to the Holy See.
A thanksgiving mass was then
celebrated in Saint Peter's basilica by Cardinal Angelo
Sodano, Secretary of State and previous apostolic
nuncio in Chile.
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