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.

Militant Antifa Leftist Indicted for Allegedly Trying to Torch GOP Headquarters

A Better Way for Christians to Engage Politics and Culture

Dem senators deflect questions on Platner’s scandal-plagued campaign: ‘Not following that race closely’

Trump champions bid to nix clock changes by adopting permanent daylight saving time

GOP caps turbulent week, pointing finger at White House for immigration bill blunder

Army cuts helicopters, pushes ‘Amazon for war’ as drone combat reshapes military

Massive SPLC-linked grant under fire as watchdog exposes ties to middle school programs

DOJ bolsters South Florida team investigating alleged anti-Trump conspiracy

Fox News True Crime Newsletter: Alex Murdaugh’s new defense, Luigi Mangione’s decision, Tyler Robinson’s fight

Rep. Tom Kean Jr. says he expects to return to Congress ‘in the next couple of weeks’ after missing 100 votes

Teen suspect tied to 12 attacks in chaotic Austin shooting spree identified as illegal alien

More than 300 arrested in sprawling California crackdown on child exploitation crimes

Former US attorney charged with felony hit-and-run after Houston crash, police say

Plan for Trump’s ‘Triumphal Arch’ Clears Another Important Hurdle with DC Commission Approval

Texas congressional candidate claims she never called for ‘internment camps’ after party leaders condemn her

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?”