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Saint restoration prompts complaints

Priest ensures that the image of Jesus Nazarene, dating back to 1912, was in urgent need of repair.

But residents insist that the image was altered or swapped, and demand an explanation.

la prensa

discrepancy:According to Atalaya residents, the holy image of Jesus Nazarene has been altered during a restoration process ordered by the Bishop of the Veraguas diocese.1143631

The recent restoration of an image of the Jesus Nazarene is causing uneasiness among residents of the Atalaya district in the province of Veraguas. Residents claim that the statue has been the object of more than a simple restoration; they complain that the image itself has, in fact, been altered or swapped.

The restoration was ordered by the Bishop of the Veraguas diocese, Oscar Mario Brown, who felt that the statue was in desperate need of repair due to its severe state of deterioration.

But a group of Atalaya residents, deeply saddened by the discrepancy, have formed a committee to formally complain that the image of the saint was distorted or replaced by another figure. They are demanding an explanation from the church as to what was done with the original image, and to request that Bishop Brown have the image reset before the start of Lent (Feb. 25), given its significance to thousands of followers during the religious holiday.

Dayli Pinzón, a spokeswoman for the committee, explained that, at first glance, one can observe that the original image of the saint was altered, pointing out that the hands of the new image are thicker and the tone of the face is lighter than the original image. Pinzón further indicated that another of the flaws is that the original image had the saint posed with his left hand facing right, but that the new image has the hands reversed.

Father Gilberto Hernández, the priest in Atalaya, said that he “can not accept the statements of the committee, because what was done with the Nazarene was a restoration that was urgently needed.”

But residents commented that, if the image of the Nazarene was in urgent need of repair, the church authorities should have hired a professional restorer, as was done with the church in San Francisco.

At the center of the dispute is the artisan from the Cañazas district who was contracted to do the restoration work, Casimiro García Rodríguez. According to García Rodríguez, apart from a minor discrepancy in its color, the image has not been altered, and the work he did was “in direct accordance with what was requested of the church authorities.”

The artisan, however, acknowledged that his work usually involves sculpting, not restoring. He further expressed his dismay at the “unfair criticism” from Atalaya residents, stating that he only charged the diocese a mere $300 for the restoration, and that they underestimate the capacity of local restorers who are paid so little in comparison to their foreign counterparts.

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