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.

Trump reveals first look at presidential library in Miami

Teacher of the Year finalist gets 14 years for sexual relationship with student she kept contacting

Top Ten King-Like Things Barack Obama Did That Democrats Had No Problem With

Fugitive illegal alien convict on the run after attempting to strike ICE officer with vehicle: DHS

Charlie Kirk Memorial Bill Vetoed by Swing-State Dem Governor Who Said It Didn’t ‘Bring People Together’

DHS slams California ‘sanctuary’ county after mom allegedly murdered by 2 Honduran nationals

Jayapal floats reparations for illegal immigrants impacted by Trump crackdown, demands prosecutions

Opinion: Is It Just Me, or Is the World Finally Starting to Feel Normal Again?

Pam Bondi Announces the DOJ Is Suing Tim Walz’s Minnesota

Woman dies after falling from 60-foot cliff along popular Smoky Mountains trail

Rep Rashida Tlaib moves to block US operations in Lebanon but ignores Hezbollah

Trump’s TSA Executive Order Appears to Have Had Immediate Impact at Busiest Airports

Trump Reveals New White House Ballroom Will Have a ‘Massive,’ Hidden Military Purpose

Pentagon cites ‘meritocracy’ as reported officer promotion removals draw Democratic criticism

Providence mayor calls for removal of Iryna Zarutska mural, says intent is ‘divisive,’ ‘misguided’

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?”