The face of an angel who appeared to resemble Italy’s right-wing prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has been removed from a fresco in a Rome church after complaints from Vatican officials.

The image appeared in a chapel of the Basilica of St. Lawrence in Lucina, where artist Bruno Valentinetti restored a fresco he originally painted in 2000. Valentinetti initially denied that the angel bore any resemblance to Meloni. He said the recent intervention was a necessary conservation effort after water damage, a claim echoed by the parish priest, Monsignor Daniele Michelett, in comments to the BBC.