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watch One-Minute World News Last Updated: Friday, 13 October
2006, 03:12 GMT 04:12 UK Sanctuary status for Rio landmark
Statue of Christ in Rio The famous landmark, atop a 710-metre
mountain, towers over Rio     Workers began transporting the
stone and other building materials in 1922.  The statue was
assembled at the top and officially opened on 12 October 1931.
Today the site is visited by more than 300,000 tourists each
year, but the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro says
it wants to reclaim what it calls the sacred sense of the
monument.  So to mark the birthday, the statue was officially
declared a Roman Catholic sanctuary, meaning couples will now be
able to marry in a small chapel at the foot of the towering
structure.  On Thursday hundreds of nuns and priests watched as
the site was consecrated at a mass led by Archbishop Eusebio
Scheid.  He read out a goodwill message from Pope Benedict XVI
describing the Christ statue as a beac