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.

Get right out of town

WATCH: Maryland carjacking suspect plows toward cops as they open fire

Suspected DUI driver leads cops on wild chase before dramatic takedown on popular California beach

Mamdani Locked in Unexpected War with NY Teachers Union Over Big Bonuses

Tensions erupt in House hearing as GOP advances anti-socialism resolution while Dems rage: ‘Silly season’

Who pays for US power boom? Blue, red states offer starkly different ways to lower utility bills amid AI surge

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll submits resignation to Trump

Fact check: Trump claims no autism cases among unvaccinated Amish children

Breaking: SCOTUS Gives Trump’s Ballroom Construction the Green Light

Bryan Kohberger’s new lawyer says key questions may soon get answers in court

Vance hosts members from Michigan synagogue attack at rally after el Sayed apology

Vance unloads on El-Sayed after Usha swipe with brutal warning: ‘Way out of your league’

Trump’s White House ballroom construction gets another lifeline from SCOTUS amid heated legal fight

Trump’s Canada tariff fight reaches critical point as House GOP summons trade chief

The Fight Against Globalism Is Local: Why Americans Are Fighting Flock Cameras and Data Centers

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?”