Junipero Serra Statue removed from Ventura City Hall

VENTURA, Calif. - The Father Junipero Serra Statue in front of Ventura City Hall was removed early Thursday morning.

This follows the city council's decision to remove and relocate the statue earlier this month.

It will eventually be taken to the Ventura Mission.

Junipero Serra is known as the Father of California's Spanish missions, having personally founded at least nine of the 21 missions statewide.

He worked to create the missions from 1767 until his death in 1784.

Serra became an official saint under Pope Francis in 2015, a motion that was considered controversial even then.