The route Pope Benedict XVI would follow in Malta was set and would not change, irrespective of whether the phallic-like sculpture in Luqa was there or not, a spokesman for the Church said yesterday.

The spokesman was asked whether the Church had a problem with the Pope seeing the blue structure in Luqa, which received international attention when the local council asked for the "shameful, vulgar, obscene and embarrassing" monument to be removed before the Pope arrived.

He said: "The route has been established and cannot be changed since no alternative route can be taken."

The Church forms part of the national Papal visit organising committee and participated in the process to choose the route the Pope will be driven through while in Malta this weekend.

In a statement yesterday, the Front Against Censorship said the removal of the monument would be tantamount to censorship.

"Such an act would classify yet another obscene case of censorship, much in the same vein as the recent literature and theatre censorship cases," it said.

It said it believed it was not within the remit of Luqa local council to decide what was acceptable for the Pope to view.

"The implied logic that the monument be removed because it might be scandalous to the Pope is insulting both to the artist and to the public."

The Front said it regretted the fact that the issue made the headlines on the international media, ridiculing Malta.