POPE Benedict XVI unveiled overnight a statue of Saint Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, founder of the influential conservative Opus Dei group, honouring him with a place among saints represented at the Vatican.

The pontiff blessed the five-metre statue, by the Rome artist Romano Cosci, without comment.

Opus Dei, which has a chiefly lay membership, has aroused controversy over charges that it is secretive and socially ultra-conservative.

It came to wider attention when it was heavily and unflatteringly featured in the best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code.

Mr Cosci said he believed the saint had miraculously saved him when scaffolding he was working on collapsed.

More than 150 sculptures of saints and apostles adorn the walls of the Vatican basilica as well as the colonnade of St Peter's Square. A dozen niches remain empty.

Before attending a ceremony with numerous prelates and diplomats, Benedict XVI gave a general audience to 20,000 pilgrims in St Peter's Square.

He told the crowd that "God and man walk together in history" and that "at the centre of life there must be a a presence which evokes the mystery of a transcendent God."

At the end of his audience, he greeted a delegation of Italian exorcists attending a national conference of their organisation, which is recognised by the Roman Catholic Church in Italy.

He encouraged them in their "important ministry in the service of the church" and told them to work only "under the vigilant attention" of their bishops.