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.

Watch: MLB Team Makes ‘Middle School Mistake’ As Season Continues to Spiral

Biden seeks to block DOJ release of 2017 audio, court filing says

Should ‘The View’ Be Considered News? ABC and FCC Go to Battle Over Embattled Show

‘Free beer’ for Trump death Dem activist running for Wisconsin gov: ‘I will win’ if they silence me

The Harsh Reality Everyone’s Missing About Massive Lithium Find in Appalachia

Rand Paul vows to keep pressure on Fauci as statute of limitations on criminal referral expires Monday

Fact Check: Is Hantavirus Poised to Become a COVID-Style Pandemic?

Virginia Democrats roasted over spelling mistakes in redistricting documents

This Is How Terror Spreads: 3 Australian Women Back from Syria Face Slavery, Terrorism Charges

Supreme Court’s junior justice goes on solo tear as Trump fights put her at odds with the bench

Mayor Overruled After He Dissolved Entire Police Force Following Dispute with His Wife

AOC, asked about running for president, says her ambition is ‘way bigger than that’

Nancy Guthrie was alive when abducted, blood evidence shows ‘last stand’ on front porch: retired FBI agent

Where Trump, GOP vs Democrats redistricting battle heads next in wake of key court rulings

Harris accuses Trump allies of trying to ‘rig’ 2026 midterms after Virginia court tosses redistricting measure

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?”