ROME: An enormous statue of John Paul II, unveiled in front of Rome's central station just weeks after the ex-pontiff was put on the path to sainthood, has sparked controversy - with locals calling for it to go.

“We don't want this statue, they have to get rid of it. It looks like a box and it's embarrassing us in front of the tourists,” said an elderly woman quoted in Italy's Repubblica daily.

“I really don't like it, it looks like a sentry box,” said a priest who had come to watch the unveiling on Wednesday.

The five-metre (16-foot) high bronze statue, designed by the Italian artist Oliviero Rainaldi, depicts John Paul II with his arms outstretched, reflecting the pope's “message of welcome and openness towards others.”

John Paul smiles benignly down on passersby, his bronze head supported by a structure with no body, but a large cloak which falls to the ground on three sides, leaving a gaping hole at the front.

Critics have claimed the monument is an eyesore which does nothing to capture John Paul's spirit: “for many citizens it is ugly and doesn't look much like the pope,” Italy's Corriere della Sera said.

As the bronze pope was unveiled - with his back to Rome's central Termini railway station - Mayor Gianni Alemano said it was “the best place for the statue, which will welcome and protect everyone.”

“Homeless people will sleep in there in the winter: the welcoming sense is guaranteed,” a protesting bystander told the Repubblica.

John Paul II was beatified on Sunday May 1 by his successor Pope Benedict XVI in a ceremony which drew over a million people to the Italian capital.