Towering figure of John Paul II

"The statue, weighing nearly 1,800 pounds, was cast in Krakow and flown to New York last week aboard a German commercial airliner. An honor guard of 20 men, all members of St. Frances de Chantal, escorted it from Kennedy Airport to the church.

"People are surprised when they see it," said Kurowski. "It is so big."

One reason for the surprise is that most people who pass it are ultra-Orthodox Jews, who are by far the largest religious group in the neighborhood. "But they know who Pope John Paul was, and so they pause to look, too," Kurowski said."