The painting of the winged victory bearing the face of Giorgia Meloni in the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Lucina, in Rome’s historic centre, has been erased. The restorer removed the face of the “Meloni angel”: “The Vatican told me to do it—yes, it was the prime minister.”

The face of the “Meloni angel” is no longer visible in the fresco in the Chapel of the Crucifix in the church of San Lorenzo in Lucina in Rome. After days of denials, the restorer has admitted that the face that appeared in a fresco in the Roman church was that of the President of the Council of Ministers. Intervention by the Curia and the Superintendency led to the removal of the image. Bruno Valentinetti, the man who carried out the restoration and who painted the face, said that it was the Vatican that asked him to intervene to erase Meloni’s face: “Last night I erased it. I don’t care; I keep saying it wasn’t the prime minister, but the Curia wanted it that way, and so I erased it.”

The removal of the face from the painting was also confirmed by the parish priest of San Lorenzo in Lucina, Daniele Micheletti: “I have always said that if it proved divisive, we would remove it. And then there was a procession of people coming to see it rather than to attend Mass or pray… that wasn’t possible.”

Rome’s Special Superintendency, acting on instructions from the Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli, immediately took action by launching archival research to identify photographic documentation or design drawings related to the original painting of the Chapel of the Crucifix, created in 2000. The checks are intended to allow a comparison between the original work and the current decoration, which is the result of a restoration intervention completed in 2025.

In the communication sent to the Superintendency before the start of the works, it had been specified that the iconography and decorative style would remain unchanged. According to what has emerged, this indication was not respected. Following the spread of the news, Cardinal Baldo Reina reiterated in a statement that images of sacred art and the Christian tradition cannot be subject to improper use or instrumentalization, as they are intended exclusively to support liturgical life. This position led to the direct intervention of the Curia.

Subsequent discussions, phone calls, and meetings among the Superintendency, the Fondo Edifici di Culto (the owner of the property), the Office for Church Buildings of the Vicariate of Rome, and the parish priest of San Lorenzo in Lucina, Monsignor Daniele Micheletti, led to the decision to erase the face from the painting. The parish priest reported that the choice was made after consultation with Cardinal Reina, clarifying that although there were no regulatory obstacles to the image remaining in place even for a long period, the intervention had generated divisions within the ecclesiastical community.