A church in Mexico has revealed a huge statue of baby Jesus that bears an uncanny resemblance to the British singer Phil Collins.

The sculpture stands at 6.7 metres tall and weighs 900kg, a potential new world record for a baby Jesus statue.

Sculpted by Roman Salvador, the work was only intended to “fit the church” in the town of Guadalupe, a local priest, Humberto Rodriguez, told Central European News.

“There is a space of between 26ft between the ceiling and the floor and I ordered a statue measuring 21ft, but I never intended to make it the biggest baby Jesus statue in the world,” he said.

However, he did not comment on the inadvertent likeness to Collins, which people were quick to point out as images of the statue began to spread online.

En la iglesia "La EpifanÍa del Señor" de #Zacatecas tienen una estatua enorme del “Niño Dios” ¿O de Phil Collins? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/566RicHDxK — Iәnuɐɯ әsoɾ (@JoseManuelRadio) November 20, 2019

The Mexican paper El Sol de Puebla published tweets showing Collins-related memes of the figure, while others have noted that the statue also resembles the actor Nicolas Cage.

Collins, the former frontman and drummer with the 70s rock group Genesis, also had a successful solo career with hits such as In The Air Tonight and Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now).

Sabía que ese Niño Dios lo había visto en otro lado 😂😂🤣 pic.twitter.com/BMRaHNEAt1 — Donald J. Tron® (@ribalcor) November 19, 2019

Rodriguez, the priest for the church of La EpifanÍa del Señor, said he had contacted the Guinness World Records to confirm the new record.

The church would hold the title for largest baby Jesus statue if its submission is successful. The current record stands at 4.8 metres tall and 299kg.