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.

‘Happy Somali Independence Day!’ Ohio Capital Account Deletes Post Declaring City Would Fly Foreign Flag Week of July Fourth

Cruz pushes bill to hold tax-exempt sponsors accountable as DOJ probes Singham network

Why Four Million Christians in This Southeast Asian Nation Are In Danger

Democratic senate candidate called for mass release of criminals during prison abolition webinar

Cities brace for holiday weekend teen takeovers putting bystanders at deadly risk, former prosecutor warns

Trump kicks off Fourth of July weekend with symbolic salute to America’s legacy and more top headlines

We asked Americans to grade the economy. Then we asked if it would change their vote.

FBI Reportedly Concludes All Nancy Guthrie Ransom Messages Were Fake

54-Year-Old Defends Himself From Three Masked Thugs on Chicago Bus, Leaves Them Nursing Stab Wounds

James Carville breaks with famous ‘It’s the economy, stupid’ slogan because of Trump

WATCH: Controversial SCOTUS decision strikes a divide among lawmakers

Appeals court blocks Trump admin from holding migrants without bond for over 90 days

Judge blocks Philadelphia law targeting masked federal officers

The Democratic socialists are no longer on the fringe

BREAKING: Protester Sets Himself on Fire Outside UN Building in NYC

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?”