A publicity stunt featuring a life-size wax figure of Pope Francis appearing to wave from the back of a convertible caused some confusion before the real pontiff showed up in New York.
Officials at Madame Tussauds New York revealed their wax pope yesterday, showing the white-robed figure off around Manhattan in a popemobile-like car hours before Francis' plane arrived.
But spokeswoman Hillary Karsten said a surprised onlooker called police after mistakenly believing the figure was actually the pope.
She said police officials contacted Madame Tussauds to make sure their pope was in fact wax.