"The donation of the fragments of the Parthenon, which had been kept in the Vatican Museums for more than two centuries, is a gesture of friendship and solidarity with the Greek people," Bishop Brian Farrell, secretary for promoting Christian unity, said at the ceremony.
It is a horse's head, a boy's head and a man's head with a beard, according to the Vatican Museums.
The Greeks "legitimately desire the return of the fragments to their homes, to their original locations," Bishop Farrell said, welcoming the decision by Pope Francis.
Greece also hopes to obtain the return of the Parthenon friezes that are in the British Museum in London despite a final rejection from London in January.
London claims the sculptures were "legally acquired" in 1802 by British diplomat Lord Elgin who sold them to the British Museum.
A curator holds in his hand one of the three fragments of the Parthenon returned by the Vatican on March 24, 2023 at the Acropolis Museum in Athens © Angelos Tzortzinis / AFP
But Greece maintains that they were "looted" while the country was under Ottoman occupation.
For decades, Greece has been demanding the return of a 75-metre frieze detached from the Parthenon as well as one of the famous caryatids from the Erechtheion, a small ancient temple also on the rock of the Acropolis, both masterpieces of the British Museum.
The restitution of the Parthenon friezes is a highly sensitive subject in Greece. At the Acropolis Museum, an empty space is reserved for this frieze.
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© 2023 AFP