Pope Benedict XVI's summer break at a seminary in the mountains of northern Italy has led to demands for the removal of a "provocative" sculpture of a crucified frog on show in a nearby museum.

Local Catholics have complained to the police that the work by the German artist Martin Kippenberger, on show at the Bolzano Museum of Modern Art, is a "public obscenity". It depicts a bright green frog with its tongue hanging out, nailed to a cross, with a beer mug in one outstretched hand and an egg in the other.

It is not known whether the pontiff plans to visit Bolzano and the art museum. However Monsignor Wilhelm Egger, Bishop of Bolzano and Bressanone, revealed that he had discussed the sculpture with the Pope. He declined to say how the pontiff had reacted.

The Union for South Tyrol, a separatist group, said it had collected 10,000 signatures for a petition demanding the removal of the crucified frog. Franz Pahl, the president of Trentino-Alto Adige regional council, has gone on hunger strike in protest over the exhibit.

Luis Durnwalder, the head of the local province, said he supported contemporary art, ...BUT... not pure provocation ... The principles of respect for popular feeling and of artistic freedom have to find a reciprocal tolerance through good will and with understanding from both sides.

Under pressure from Bishop Egger the museum curators have moved the frog from the museum entrance to the third floor, but have so far refused to remove it altogether. They said the work was not an attack on Christianity but rather a reflection of the artist's state of profound crisis at the time.

Pope Benedict's request to have the sculpture of a crucified green frog holding a beer mug and an egg removed from display in an Italian museum has been rebuffed.

The board of the Museion museum in the northern city of Bolzano has refused to take down the modern art piece which the Vatican has condemned as blasphemous.

A majority vote decided that the wooden sculpture by the late German artist Martin Kippenberger should remain.

The sculpture called Zuerst die Fusse, meaning Feet First, depicts a frog of about four feet high nailed to a brown cross holding a beer mug in one outstretched hand and an egg in another. The frog wears a green loin cloth and is nailed through the hands and feet in the manner of Jesus Christ while its tongue hangs out of its mouth.

Museum staff said the artist, who died in 1997, considered the sculpture a self-portrait representing human anguish.

However, the German Pope did not agree and the Vatican wrote a letter to the regional government, whose President, Franz Pahl, went on hunger strike in opposition to the frog and had to be taken to hospital.

The Vatican's letter said the amphibian wounded the religious sentiments of so many people who see in the cross the symbol of God's love.

However, Claudio Strinati, a superintendent for Rome's museums, defended the decision to keep the frog: Art must always be free and the artist should not have any restrictions on freedom of expression.

The director of an Italian museum that defied the Pope by refusing to remove a modern art sculpture portraying a crucified green frog has been dismissed from her post.

Corinne Diserens, the Swiss head of the Museion museum of contemporary art at Bolzano in the Italian Alps, was released from her duties with immediate effect by the new provincial government in Alto Adige after local elections.

The decision was a result of the difficult financial situation caused in part by unauthorised spending”, officials said.

Supporters of Ms Diserens, including Hans Heiss, the head of the local Green Party, said that the real reason was the row over the frog.

The wooden sculpture by the late German artist Martin Kippenberger depicts a 4ft frog wearing a green loin cloth. It is nailed to a brown cross with a beer mug in one outstretched hand and an egg in the other. Its tongue hangs out of its mouth.

Pope Benedict XVl took offence while on summer holiday in the mountains near Bolzano, describing the work as blasphemous. The Vatican sent a letter in the Pope's name to Franz Pahl, the president of the Trentino-Alto Adige regional council (who also opposed the sculpture), saying that it wounds the religious sentiments of so many people who see in the Cross the symbol of God's love.