Archdiocese and City of Vienna to Scrap "Pope's Cross"

The City of Vienna and the Archdiocese want to tear down a giant metal cross and replace it with an ugly memorial by sculptor Oscar HÖFINGER. There's an initiative to renew the so-called "Pope's Cross" which has been estimated to cost around 400,000 Euro. It wouldn't be surprising if it were the cost of the sculptor's commission.

One commenter has already pointed out on kathnet that the universally hated St. Restituta statue cost the Vienna Archdiocese 100,000 Euro.

[Kath.net, Vienna] The Cross is going to be scrapped and replaced by a small monument. This has angered many Catholics who were there at the time. They are planning their own initiative "Save the Pope's Cross".

In the Archdiocese of Vienna there is an uproar about the planned destruction of the "Pope's Cross" in the Danube Park. The 40 Meter high and 65 ton metal cross was erected for a Eucharistic Celebration with John Paul II on September 11, 1983.

Recently, a placard has been put on the fence around the cross. It reads: "For statistical reasons the present Pope's Cross, which was erected on the first pastoral visit of John Paul II on 12 September 1983, in agreement with the Vienna City Parks and the Archdiocese of Vienna and in the the Summer of 2010 will be replaced by a small memorial. The piece will be by sculptor Oskar HÖFINGER and will represent the risen Christ." [It will most assuredly be ugly socialist art.]

For some days Kath.net has dialed the phone in order to discover what is to become of the cross. The director of the Park Office of the Vienna Magistrats was very friendly, but clueless. He didn't know that there was such a cross. Then, after some further calls, Kath.net got the answer: "the cross is rusty" and "must be taken away." Sadly, nothing more could be said.

It constitutes a danger of collapse, one would have to reinforce the construction to make it safe, as is maintained by the Mayor's office, as the "Crown" reports. City Park Director Rainer Weisgram has tried to find all the information for a possible renovation.

"This would cost an estimated 400,000 Euro." One such investment with tax money is not sensible, because "with that you could make a giant playground with the works".

This statement really brings everything to hand, for the "Pope's Cross" has enduring value and high symbolic value. This estimate is "on one hand surely exaggerated" , and it states the other side "laughable on the face of millions, who pay their tax money in a 'Lifeball' which is about to be given away in a few days," incites a Catholic woman in the Archdiocese of Vienna to write to Kath.NET.

The cost for the planned "little memorial" should come by the way of the City of Vienna and the Archdiocese of Vienna and be used for the same , Kath.NET has learned from well informed circles of the Archdiocese of Vienna.

In the meantime there is a spontaneous initiative "Save the Pope's Cross". which forms a petition group, in a do-it-yourself effort to raise the allegedly necessary 300,000 to 400,000 Euro.

Link to Kath.net...