Christ the Redeemer Flies as a Socceroo and a Hot Air Balloon

Rio's iconic Christ the Redeemer statue has naturally been featured throughout anything and everything related to the World Cup. 

Bizarrely, we've seen the historic landmark donning a Mario Balotelli shirt. Now, we've seen it mysteriously floating down under wearing a Socceroos kit. 

In an effort to boost the hopes of an Australian nation unfortunately pitted in the Group B gauntlet with defending World Cup winners Spain, 2010 runners-up Netherlands and South American dark horse Chile, a betting company decided to make Christ the Redeemer fly in Aussie colours. 

The 151-foot balloon has a simple message over Melbourne: #KeepTheFaith. 

AP

AP

Of course, turning the statue of Jesus into a rallying cry for sport isn't always going to go over incredibly well. 

Per Yahoo Australia (h/t Dirty Tackle), chair of the Australian Churches Gambling Taskforce, Reverend Tim Costello, thought the effort was taken too far. 

"

One of the great statues in Rio is Jesus, and Brazil is a Catholic nation that takes its faith seriously and its footballing fanatically. 

You don't exploit those things that are sacred to people simply for your own advertising reach and I think that soccer as a world game should be sensitive to that and certainly express their disdain for these types of advertisements. 

"

[Dirty Tackle]