The phallus-like monument at Luqa will be one of the first things Pope Benedict XVI will see soon after his arrival on Saturday – and this “embarrassment” has once again pushed the Luqa local council to call for its removal.

In a letter the council sent to this newspaper (see page 7), mayor John Schembri said that the visit risks being an embarrassment “to the people of Luqa and the Maltese in general, due to the obscene monument” which dominates the roundabout leading to the village.

The council said that it has repeatedly asked for its removal because it “constitutes a vulgar insult as well as an arrogant imposition on the people of Luqa”.

The monument, called Colonna Mediterranea, was sculpted by Paul Vella Critien, and has been the source of vulgar comments and jokes ever since it was installed in January four years ago. The last one was on 1 April, when a section of the media played an April Fool’s joke publishing a report that the monument was going to be removed because of the Pope’s visit.

Well, this “joke” may have triggered the council into making a last-ditch attempt to have it removed.

“If not out of respect for the residents of Luqa, the (removal) is being requested at least as a sign of respect for His Holiness the Pope,” Mr Schembri pleaded.

Given the storm that is currently surrounding the Church in general, with accusations against paedophile priests emerging from all corners of the globe, it would be a “timely” and “mature” intervention.

Mr Schembri called upon parliamentary secretary Chris Said, who is responsible for local councils, to remove “this so-called work of art which has been lumped upon the village of Luqa”.

The ball is now in Dr Said’s court. Will he remove it, or won’t he?

There is, of course, the possibility of a temporary measure being taken – by covering it until the Pope leaves, or have someone telling him to look the other way. He probably will not even notice it anyway.