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.

US Forces Shoot Down Iranian Missiles Targeting Gulf Neighbors

Erika Kirk Shows Incredible Poise, Class After Heckler Screams Vile Insult

At 82, Marilyn Burns is still defining the American small business dream

Finland’s NATO nerves: A country on Russia’s doorstep wonders about the alliance’s future

Australia Has Launched $1.4B Lawsuit Against 3M Citing “Forever Chemicals”

Spencer Pratt’s runner-up edge over Democrat Raman down to 1%, few thousand ballots

‘Don’t let me be the guy that’s not funny anymore’: Jeff Foxworthy opens up on his possibly final special

The World Is Learning Faster Than Ever: The Bible Said It Would

Unease and hostility meets defiant support as Maine residents grapple with Graham Platner allegations

Experimental Hepatitis B Drug Might Carry A “Functional Cure” For Specific Patients

Government Fraud Is Not a Victimless Crime

Daycare operator arrested after 3-year-old was left unconscious in pool for 20 minutes, died

Italy Strikes Sicilian Mafia Wealth, Seizing Gold, Villas and Cash

Maine GOP hopeful vying for Trump endorsement previously ran birthing clinics catering to migrant women

How Red and Blue America Can Stay Together by Pulling Apart

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?”