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.

Charlie Kirk supporters return to site of assassination 1 year later: ‘We are still standing’

Juror on Lindsay Clancy trial says ‘we let down Lindsay’ following mistrial

Top GOP senator reveals what Dem colleagues are fretting about behind closed doors

Several People Who Were Fired Over Charlie Kirk Comments Got Big Payouts or Were Given Their Jobs Back

JD Vance to invoke Charlie Kirk, family ‘birthright’ in fiery midterm keynote speech thrashing Dems

FBI Busts Scheme to Use Skid-Row Homeless to Steal Voters’ Identities for Ballot Petitions

Conservatives Accuse Netflix of ‘Subtly Mocking Charlie Kirk’s Assassination,’ Call for Mass Cancellation

Patriots Announcers in Disbelief as QB Throws Away Season Opener on Final Play: ‘What Was He Thinking?’

Judge questions possible attorney conflict in DC pipe bomber case

Prosecutor Joseph diGenova resigns from DOJ role investigating Trump-Russia probes

Fatwas, holy wars and socialism: Inside the Islamic conference where El-Sayed drew a hero’s welcome

ICE arrests Peruvian national accused of illegally voting in 2024 election as DHS cites similar cases

TPUSA Official Explains How ‘Ghouls’ Celebrating Anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s Death Are Actually Helping His Cause

Deep Dive: One Year On, ‘A Million Charlie Kirks’ Have Not Yet Emerged, But Disunity and Insanity Have

James Talarico needles Ken Paxton amid GOP midterm convention

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?”