It may not be the most conventional of song choices for a nun, but Sister Cristina’s rendition of Like a Virgin is a far cry from Madonna’s provocative 1984 hit.

In contrast to the original clip where Madonna cavorts around Venice in a white wedding dress accompanied by a man dressed as a lion, Sister Cristina’s version, which is also set in the canal city, is more like a religious hymn than a pop song.

“I chose it myself, without any desire to provoke or cause a scandal,” the nun told Catholic newspaper Avvenire, explaining the controversial choice. “By reading the text, without letting yourself be influenced by previous [interpretations], you discover that it is a song about the ability of love to renew people, to redeem them from their past. And that’s how I wanted to interpret it.

“That’s why we transformed the pop-dance track that it was into a romantic ballad a bit like Amos Lee, more like a secular prayer than a pop song.”

The song will be just one of the tracks on the nun’s first album, to be released on November 11th.

Entitled Sister Cristina, the album will feature ten famous pop covers including Keane’s Somewhere Only We Know, Coldplay’s Fix You, Alicia Keys’ No One, Cyndi Lauper’s True Colours and Jessie J’s Price Tag.

The reformed rebel from Sicily won a record contract with Universal for her victory in The Voice Italy in early June.

Since the nun won the Italian talent competition her songs have clocked up over 100 million views on YouTube.

The nun wowed viewers with her versions of songs like Girls Just Want To Have Fun and Time of My Life from the film Dirty Dancing.

But it was her performance of No One that first drew attention.

See the Like a Virgin video clip below:

And just for contrast, here is the original from 1984: