NEW YORK (LifeSiteNews) — A Catholic church in New York City has kept a highly controversial painting series in its place near the altar as the exhibit’s accompanying description, which entitled the series “God is Trans[gender]: A Queer Spiritual Journey,” has been removed for an “update.”

While Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF) previously reported that an Archdiocese of New York spokesperson said the office had been informed by the Church of Saint Paul the Apostle in Manhattan that it had removed the exhibit, Catholic News Agency (CNA) shared Monday that only the display’s title and description sign has been temporarily removed while the paintings remain after the Archdiocese said it would investigate reports of the display.

Paul Snatchko, a spokesman for the Paulist Fathers, told CNA that the Paulist Fathers took the concerns of the archdiocese “very seriously” and accordingly removed the description of the paintings, naming the series “God is Transgender” and promoting the idolatrous and heretical ideas that we can make a “god” according to our own liking and that “there is no devil.”

Snatchko shared that the artist, Adah Unachukwu, a Fordham University student, and the Paulists Fathers’ New York City “artist-in-residence” Father Frank Sabatté are working on a new title and description for the paintings.

According to the previously displayed description, “The painting Sacrifice … speak[s] to the need to shed an old life and personhood in order to be able to focus on your spiritual need. There is no devil. Just past selves.”

The description further explained that the painting, “Identity,” marking another “significant point” of the “queer spiritual journey,” asks, “What does holiness look like? What does your god look like? Are these two portrayals that can be merged?”

“Finally, ‘Communion’…plac[es] God and the mortal on the same plane,” Unachukwu continued.

Sabatté directs a group of visual artists based at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle called the Openings Collective, which “often exhibits at our mother church,” according to the Paulist Fathers’ website.

When CNA asked Snatchko if the Paulist Fathers believe it is acceptable to say that God is transgender, Snatchko replied “no.”

According to Snatchko, Openings Collective puts on “two or three exhibit shows” every year, and the “God is Trans” painting display was included along with eight others in the current exhibit.

“It’s not the practice of the parish to get pre-approval of the titles of the artworks,” Snatchko told CNA. “The idea is that Father Frank [Sabatté] is overseeing that.”

“That title was the title that one artist gave to their display,” he continued. “So it is not the opinion of the Church of St. Paul the Apostle. It was one artist in an eight-person exhibit, and that was the title they gave to their display. It was not a statement of theology in any way.”

A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of New York declined to comment when asked by LifeSiteNews to clarify whether the paintings remained on display. However, on Tuesday, a representative from Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s office told a source known to LifeSiteNews that, to their knowledge, the display had been removed.

LifeSiteNews also reached out to the Church of Saint Paul the Apostle for clarification but had not received a response as of the time of publishing.