'Angel Meloni' scrubbed off Rome church painting on priest's orders

An angel restored with the face of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been scrubbed off a wall painting in a central Rome church on the orders of the parish priest, following a political and clerical uproar.

One of two angels in a chapel of the Basilica of St Lawrence in Lucina, close to government headquarters, was altered to look virtually identical to the 49-year-old right-wing leader, Italy's first woman premier.

The image was spotted on Saturday by centre-left newspaper la Repubblica and stirred outrage among opposition figures and irritation from Cardinal Baldo Reina, Vicar General for the diocese of Rome.

When the church opened on Wednesday, the Meloni-like face had been painted over, leaving the angel headless.

"I always said that if (the Meloni image) proved divisive we would remove it," the church priest Daniele Micheletti told Italian news agency ANSA.

"There was a procession of people that came to see it instead of listening to Mass or praying. It wasn't acceptable."

The amateur artist who restored the painting, Bruno Valentinetti, was quoted by Repubblica on Wednesday as saying he had been asked to erase it by the Vatican.

A spokesperson for the Holy See declined to comment. The Rome diocese said it would release a statement later.

On Saturday, Cardinal Reina expressed "bitterness" over the incident, ordered an investigation and warned that "images of sacred art and Christian tradition cannot be misused or exploited".

The Italian Culture Ministry also announced an inquiry, while Meloni laughed off the incident. She posted a picture of the disputed painting on Instagram, with the caption "No, I definitely don't look like an angel", and a laughing emoji.

The altered wall painting was done in 2000, and is not under any heritage protection. Valentinetti is its original author and was asked to restore it to fix water damage, priest Micheletti said on Saturday.

-Reporting by Remo Casilli and Alvise Armellini, additional reporting by Joshua McElwee; editing by Gavin Jones and Mark Heinrich/Reuters