Luqa mayor John Schembri yesterday stressed that his complaints about the phallic ceramic structure that made international news did not begin "only now", just because of the Pope's visit this weekend.

The mayor, whose name was published all over the world as the man who wanted to protect the Pope from the phallic symbol, issued a statement entitled End Of Story.

Sounding defeated, Mr Schembri said he had been complaining about the structure ever since it was installed in 2006. The council did not intend to put into question the artist's "general artistic abilities". Instead, the council criticised former Roads Minister Jesmond Mugliett for commissioning the structure in the first place in 2006.

"It is absolutely not the case that the council is only now protesting about this monument because of the impending visit of His Holiness the Pope. It had already written several times about the matter," he said, referring to correspondence with Mr Mugliett and the present roads minister, Austin Gatt.

He said the council, which is still unanimously opposed to the "imposition of this particular controversial monument", would have preferred a monument to one of the great protagonists in the history of Luqa, such as "the versatile Mikelanġ Sapiano".

The council recently called on Chris Said, the parliamentary secretary responsible for local councils, to take action because it had "full trust in his good faith and readiness to take action" on any complaints received.

Following the government's decision not to heed the council's request to shift the monument, the council has no power to take further action.

In his original press release, Mr Schembri said the monument should be removed, if not for Luqa residents, "out of respect for Pope Benedict XVI".

He called the structure obscene, vulgar and shameful, prompting artist Paul Vella Critien to defend it as an abstract sculpture inspired by ancient Egyptian columns.

The government said it had no plans to remove the controversial artwork.