Church's giant Jesus statue goes viral over Phil Collins resemblance

An enormous statue of the Baby Jesus created by a church in rural Mexico has launched a series of internet memes in the Roman Catholic country.

The Zoquite parish church in Zacatecas state says it wanted to draw attention to the traditional statue and simply ordered a figure about the size of its main hall, or nave.

But at just over 6.5 metres tall, the nappy-clad baby figure looks so large in a video posted on the church website that it appears able to step on the humans around it.

Mexicans quickly created memes showing the looming baby threatening to invade cities or public gatherings, like Godzilla.

Others noted the blue-eyed baby looks a lot like actor Nicolas Cage, or musician Phil Collins.

While Baby Jesus figures are traditionally used in creche displays in the United States largely around Christmas, in many countries the figures are displayed all year.

The reaction is similar to that of the notorious "restoration" of "Ecce Homo" ("Behold Man"), a fresco of Jesus at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Mercy near the Spanish town of Borja. The botched job by a local woman was ridiculed worldwide and became better known as "Behold the Monkey".