BRASILIA (CWNews.com) - Officials of the Brazilian town of Paracatu said last week that they want Pope John Paul II to return a statue given to him by Brazil's President Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

    In October, Cardoso presented the statue of St. Anne as a gift to the Holy Father, but residents of the town said the 18th century carving was not Cardoso's to give and should be returned. "On the religious side, I'm sure it's in good hands, but for the sake of Brazilian identity the statue has to come back," one of the hundreds of residents who signed a petition demanding the statue's return told Globo television.

    The Foreign Ministry said that the Holy Father had planned to return the statue to Brazil all along. "As soon as the Vatican chooses a church to house the statue it is coming back," a ministry spokesman said. But Paracatu residents want to the statue returned to them. "With the saint having been in the hands of the Pope and then coming home, Paracatu will be blessed," one resident said.

          

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