After clinching the Voice of Italy prize for a repertoire that included her rendition of Alicia Keys' "No One," Sister Cristina Scuccia wearing her nun's habit and veil, recited the Lord's Prayer.

"The last word of thanks, the most important, goes of course to Him in heaven.

"And my dream is to recite a Padre Nostro (Lord's Prayer) together ... I want Jesus to enter into this," she said after winning Italy's version of The Voice.

The competition clincher was the song "What a Feeling" from the 1983 movie Flashdance, which brought the house down on the Italian public broadcaster's RAI 2 channel.

The 25-year-old Sicilian-born nun, who lives in Milan, punched the air and thanked God after her victory over rocker Giacomo Voli who had performed "Stairway to Heaven."

Suor Cristina, as she is known in Italy, told the judges wearing her flat black shoes and a crucifix, "I want Jesus to come in here!

"'My presence here is not up to me, it's thanks to the man upstairs."

She chose bad-boy rapper J-Ax as her coach, who described the team as "the devil and holy water," Billboard magazine said.

A nun in the Ursuline Sisters of the Holy Family "her performance turned all four chairs, as coaches Raffaella Carra, J-Ax, Piero Pelu and Noemi were almost moved to tears," noted The Hollywood Reporter.

Earlier this year she said Pope Francis' call for people to "get out onto the streets" for their faith inspired her.

She drew 62 percent of the vote.

She was asked if she would enter show business full-time and said: "I will go back to my priorities - prayer, waking up early in the morning, school service. That's fundamental for me to be able to begin something new later on."'

Alicia Keys praised the singing nun for her performance, describing the Italian nun as "pure energy," Britain's Mailonline reported.

She has also got praise from Whoopi Goldberg who starred in the film "Sister Act" as a pop singer pretending to be a nun.