BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — A baby Jesus has been stolen from a Christmas nativity scene in Brussels which sparked an online furor over its faceless depictions of Christianity’s holy family.

In portraying Jesus, Mary and Joseph with patchwork cloth lacking facial features, artist Victoria-Maria Geyer said she hoped to craft an inclusive version of the Christmas tradition which left “free rein for everyone’s imagination.”

Yet despite the local ecclesiastical authorities approving the scene, the installation in central Brussels has come under fire online since opening on Friday, with right-wing Belgian politician Georges-Louis Bouchez even comparing the figures to “zombies.”

As debate swirled on social media, the baby Jesus, represented by his fabric head, disappeared from the Christmas cot on Saturday, prompting the authorities to replace the son of God and tighten security. 

A petition launched by Bouchez on the day of the theft to replace the manger by Christmas 2026 at the latest garnered more than 33,000 signatures in three days, according to a spokesperson for the politician. 

Bouchez, who leads the French-speaking Reformist Movement (MR) party, called the scene “nonsense and an insult to our traditions.”

After visiting the Grand Place, the tourist hotspot where the nativity scene is on display, Brussels resident Arlette Coppoy agreed.

“It’s a disgrace,” Coppoy told AFPTV.

“For me, in Catholicism, Jesus was born in a manger. He wasn’t born in a tent with faceless parents, with nothing.”

For fellow Brussels local Michel Elias, however, the artwork allowed him to reflect on contemporary goings-on in the Holy Land. 

“I think this nativity scene is very good, because Jesus was Palestinian and now he finds himself under a sheet of canvas, like the Palestinians in Gaza,” Elias said.

“This moves me deeply. I think this is exactly what Christmas is all about.”

Geyer, who identifies as a practising Catholic, insisted that the idea of breaking with tradition was “far from our minds” when fashioning the nativity. 

Her artwork had been discussed with the ruling coalition in Brussels, including Bouchez’s MR -- which did not block its set-up.