Pope Francis Asks for Forgiveness After Amazon Statues Stolen, Thrown Into River in Rome

Pope Francis asked Amazonian bishops and tribal leaders for forgiveness Friday after indigenous statues were stolen from a Vatican-area church and thrown into a nearby river.

The wood-carved figures of naked pregnant women, known as Pachamama, were brought to the Vatican to be displayed during the pope’s three-week assembly of Amazonian clergy, called a synod.

The pope insisted there was no intention of idolatry, which undercut conservative claims that the statues are symbols of pagan worship.

“Above all, this happened in Rome and as the bishop of this diocese I ask forgiveness of the people who were offended by this gesture,” Francis told the synod hall.

The Vatican has said the statues are symbols of life, fertility and Mother Earth.

‘We’re taxing the rich’: NYC Mayor Mamdani touts new $500M-a-year tax on luxury second homes

Watch: Comedian Dave Chappelle Refuses to Let NPR Reporter Shame Him for Trans Jokes

Sotomayor walks back remarks criticizing Kavanaugh, says comments were ‘inappropriate’

Leftist Darlng Hasan Piker Given Chance to Walk Back Hamas Sympathy – Instead, He Says He’d ‘Vote’ for Them

Democratic secretary of state was ‘prepared’ for FBI raid in Arizona, emails show

ODNI sends criminal referrals to DOJ for ex-IG, whistleblower tied to Trump impeachment

Catholic JFK Laid Out How Presidents Should Deal With Papal Criticism in Famous 1960 Speech

School Agrees to Pay Up After Counselor Was Fired for Objecting to Transgender Policy

Woman added to FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list arrested hours later after tips poured in from Florida: Patel

Congress mulls compelling testimony from ActBlue leadership

Hunter Biden now living abroad as legal troubles mount, court filing reveals

DC curfew ends as teen takeover fears clock in – city braces for chaos amid spring break mayhem

Bessent ‘optimistic’ gas prices will fall to $3 a gallon by midsummer

Watch: As Walls Close in, Schiff’s Own Words Come Back to Haunt Him in Resurfaced Pardon Video He Wishes Didn’t Exist

What to know about the Freedom 250 UFC fight on the White House lawn

The wooden figures were found unharmed in the Tiber River this week. The pope said he would consider having them displayed during the final Mass of the synod on Sunday.

The theft was caught on surveillance video Monday as thieves took the figures from the Santa Maria in Traspontina church, just down the block from St. Peter’s Square.

The video appeared to show at least two men enter the church before dawn, take the statues placed at an altar and then throw them in the river. The act was celebrated by conservative Catholics who deemed the statues pagan idols.

Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, the conservative German fired by Francis in 2017 as the Vatican’s doctrine chief, said it was a “great mistake” to bring the statues to the Vatican in the first place.

“To throw it out can be against human law, but to bring the idols into the church was a grave sin, a crime against divine law,” he told conservative U.S. Catholic broadcaster EWTN.

While the theft was cheered by conservative Catholics, progressives denounced the act as racism.

“Can you imagine the conservative outcry if someone tossed the image of Our Lady of Czestochowa into the Tiber?” the National Catholic Reporter, a progressive Catholic magazine, said in an editorial this week. “We do not use the term ‘racists’ lightly, but what else is it?”