A communication breakdown between the Church and a restorer has led to a complete makeover of St Gregory’s statue in Sliema, with its benefactors complaining they do not recognise the chubbier, younger saint. John Seychell Navarro, the great-grandson of the couple who commissioned the original 1950s wooden statue for the Sliema parish church, is very disappointed.

Instead of being restored, the original statue by Italian sculptor Angelo Righetti was covered in papier mâché and transformed into a completely different, larger and younger-looking statue, he explained.

So when the Sliema church celebrates the feast of St Gregory this weekend, the plaque with the names of his great-grandparents – Alfred and Mary Vella – will be affixed to a statue they never even saw.

Artist Charles Vella, who carried out the papier mâché works in 2010, stressed that he was commissioned to reinterpret the statue, not restore it.

“There seems to have been a lack of communication along the way… I was following instructions – to renovate and reinterpret the statue, which I did,” Fr Vella said, adding that he was guided by feast enthusiasts after being told the church had all the necessary permits in hand to go ahead.

While following their instructions, he said, he ensured his work had “absolute reversibility”.

When contacted, Fr Joseph Farrugia, who was the parish priest at the time, said: “We had all the permits... I have nothing to add.”

However, a spokesman for the Curia said: “Projects of a new piece of art or restoration of existing works in parishes are presented to the Archbishop’s Curia for approval.

“The respective commissions are consulted before permission is granted or refused. In the case of the statue of St Gregory, permission had been granted by the Archbishop’s Curia, however, the restorers exceeded the scope of their brief.”

Dr Seychell Navarro thinks the statue should be reverted to its original state.

He feels “hurt” this new statue still displays the names of his great-grandparents.

The sculptor, Mr Righetti, also created the statue of the Immaculate Conception located at Castel Gandolfo, the Pope’s summer residence in Italy.

The St Gregory statue arrived in Malta in 1952 and cost the Vellas £391, excluding transport and taxes.

Dr Seychell Navarro thinks that while Fr Vella was a talented artist, his work resulted in a completely different statue and was not what his family had paid for.

He said a parish church pamphlet released after the supposed restoration said the “statue was restored to its original and beautiful state”.

But Dr Seychell Navarro insisted “this obviously is not true”.