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.

Watch: Giants Kicker’s Bizarre Field Goal Blunder Leads to Confusion

Recordings of Brian Walshe played as prosecutors outline alleged love triangle murder

ICE Arrests Two Illegal Aliens for ‘Heinous Crimes Against Children’

Justice Department considers pursuing new indictments against James Comey, Letitia James: report

House Democrats and Republicans quietly discuss expanding personal security measures for lawmakers

Contractors renovating Washington state home discover case of live military grenades packed with TNT

Trump highlights comments by ‘Obama sycophant’ Eric Holder, continues pressing Senate GOP to nix filibuster

Pro-life center fights New Jersey attorney general’s ‘fishing expedition’ in Supreme Court battle

Chicago teachers union funneled millions to liberals while keeping members in the dark about finances

Stefanik blasts Johnson, GOP as ‘getting rolled’ by House Democrats

Florida officer shot in face during service call tied to mental health dispute; suspect killed

Trump warns Honduras of ‘hell to pay’ if election count changes, presses officials to finish tally

DHS launches ‘Cyber Monday deal’ in retro 90s holiday ad: $1,000 for illegal immigrants who self-deport

CAIR spins anti-Israel narrative about Somali fraud as scrutiny grows

Drug kingpin El Chapo’s son enters plea in multibillion-dollar drug trafficking case

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?”