Friday, October 21, 2016

Pope graffiti erased hours after appearing on Rome street

Removed almost immediatelyResidents of a busy street near the Vatican woke yesterday to the sight of Pope Francis perched atop a ladder playing a game of noughts and crosses "for peace” on a wall. 

As soon as word of the graffiti got out, public workers rushed to erase it. 

Residents of the area around Borgo Pio, however, were not completely unfamiliar with the sight, since the artist behind the graffiti is Maupal, who has already depicted Pope Francis on the walls of this street in the past.

Several were disappointed to see it removed. 

"It is a shame that they erased it, because it is a good painting, a beauty, and the person who did it had the best intentions. Well painted, detailed ... You know? A thing of beauty, it was not ugly at all,” said one resident.

Others say the area is full of offensive graffiti which nobody has bothered to clean up. 

"It makes me sad, because it represents world peace, which we need so badly and for which our Pope fights so adamantly.

"We could erase the one on the other side that doesn't belong, but art such as this, it is only right that they leave it."