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.

Illinois lieutenant governor seeking US Senate seat releases video of people saying ‘F— Trump’

Hollywood Legend Becomes Latest Billionaire to Flee California

The Golden Girls: US Women Thrive on the Ice at the Winter Olympics

Ex-Victoria’s Secret CEO’s lawyer caught on hot mic jokingly threatening to ‘kill’ him at Epstein deposition

6 mothers who ‘cherished time together’ among victims in avalanche near Lake Tahoe

Woman charged with animal abandonment after leaving dog tied at JetBlue counter at Las Vegas airport

Documents show Epstein received pitch for properties housing Pentagon, FBI tenants after 2008 conviction

Buttigieg, Newsom, AOC top three in new 2028 poll in key presidential primary state

College student dies in tragic ski accident at Wisconsin resort, marking second death within a month

Red state auditor’s report flags Democratic governor’s ‘concerning’ spending on ‘luxury’ expenditures

Trump’s NIH director isn’t the only official wearing multiple hats during the president’s second term

Apple iCloud accused of failing to stop ‘child porn’ in West Virginia lawsuit

Colbert Follows Up FCC ‘Equal Time’ Fiasco by Sitting Down with Liberal Senator Who’s Up for Re-election

Judge overstepped by ordering Mark Zaid’s security clearance restored: DOJ

Cambodian PM says Thai forces occupying disputed land despite Trump-brokered ceasefire

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?”