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.

Former USCIS official, accomplice charged in alleged $960K citizenship bribery scheme

Dramatic video captures floodwaters bursting through glass doors of college students’ home

Trump appears to debut darker hair, sparking online buzz

Breaking: Deadly Amazon Cargo Plane Crash at Miami Airport Leaves 5 Dead

Amy Acton campaign says armed individual lunged at Ohio governor candidate, injuring multiple people

Hasan Piker brushes off Dems who see him as a liability, names his ’28 choice

Stray bullet from nearby lounge fight kills Frito-Lay worker inside Sam’s Club

After ‘Lake America,’ Trump suggests a new name for the state of New Mexico

Amazon cargo plane overruns Miami airport runway, striking ‘multiple’ vehicles and catching fire

Trump admin’s mail-in ballot fight lands back at Supreme Court

Hikers stranded on Mount Shasta after relying on AI to plan trip, sheriff says

Sanders pushes ‘death penalty’ for crucial US industry that could give advantage to foreign adversaries

Missouri foster mom accused of trading teen for monkey avoids prison

Mamdani under fire after symbolic 9/11 pen goes to former al Qaeda defense lawyer

Tragedy Shuts Down Christian Music Festival: Pastor Killed By High Winds and Collapsing Sign

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?”