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.

Andrew, Tristan Tate arrested in Miami as UK seeks extradition on expanded rape, trafficking charges

Mamdani doubles down on democratic socialism while insisting Wall Street, business leaders can work with him

Boston police investigate death at home owned by Rep. Ayanna Pressley’s husband

Bernie Sanders dismisses Haley Stevens, says Michigan race is against the ‘billionaire class’

Mamdani says NYC is exploring whether it can arrest Netanyahu if Israeli leader visits for UN General Assembly

Liberal circuit judge blasts SCOTUS conservatives, says Hawaii will defy high court

Rubio Goes Viral as Millions Watch, Share His Rousing Speech on the Evils of the Modern Left

Caitlin Clark Sets Scoring Record with Monster 45-Point Game in Comeback Win

Tough But Moral: How Israel Phoned a Terrorist and Offered to Kill Him Without Touching His Family… and He Took the Deal

Breaking: Two US Service Members Killed in Iranian Strike on Air Base

Stephen Miller says Trump administration is pursuing policy to debank illegal immigrants

New Yorkers collected $2.6 billion in welfare cash payments last year, city data shows

Mamdani Admits to Exploring Plan to Arrest Netanyahu in New York City

Dave Portnoy Shocked by People Who Fled ‘Countries That Are Disasters’ Spreading Socialism Across US

Two US service members killed in Iranian strikes on Jordan, CENTCOM says

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?”