Cardinal Sin looks different – Church leaders

SEVERAL Philippine Church leaders said they failed to recognize the late Archbishop of Manila Jaime Cardinal Sin at the unveiling on Friday of a life-size bronze statue during the 25th anniversary of the people power revolution he helped bring to life.

“It’s quite different… but I don’t want to criticize,” said the late cardinal’s successor, Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales.

Father Rufino Jun Sescon, who was Cardinal Sin’s private secretary, was also surprised.

“While it was being made we suggested some revisions, but as you very well know every artist has his or her own interpretation,” Father Sescon said.

He said another statue of the former prelate at a local bank “resembled the cardinal more.”

Asked by reporters if the Church wanted the statue scrapped, Father Sescon said that decision was up to the Manila city government who funded the project.

However, Father Mark Munda, priest at the Mother of Perpetual Help Parish in Sta. Ana in Manila, said the statue did look a bit like the cardinal when he was a younger man.

“If you saw Cardinal Sin when he was still a young priest you’ll see some resemblance,” he said.

The 3-meter monument of the late archbishop by sculptor Ed Castrillo now stands next to those of former president Corazon Aquino and former senator Benigno Aquino Jr. on the corner of Padre Burgos Street and Bonifacio Drive outside the walls of the old city.

The Aquinos, parents of President Benigno Aquino III, and the late Cardinal Sin were leading figures in the fight against the Marcos dictatorship that led to the 1986 people power uprising.

Report from ucanews.com