Theft mars pope’s big Amazon gathering Italy
Pope Francis has begged forgiveness from Amazonian bishops and tribal leaders after thieves stole indigenous statues from a Vatican-area church and tossed them into the Tiber River, in a bold show of conservative Catholic opposition to the first Latin American pope.
Francis insisted that the carved wooden statues of naked pregnant women were brought to the Vatican for display during his Amazon synod ‘‘without any intention of idolatry’’, undercutting conservative claims that they were symbols of pagan, idolatrous worship.
He said police had found the so-called Pachamama statues unharmed in the Tiber, and would consider letting the Vatican display them during a final Mass wrapping up the Amazon meeting.
‘‘I ask forgiveness of the people who were offended by this gesture,’’ Francis told the synod hall.
The apology came as the threeweek Amazon synod wrapped up yesterday. More than 180 bishops and cardinals from nine Amazonian countries voted on a final document containing proposals to better protect the Amazon rainforest and minister to its indigenous peoples.
The most controversial proposals include whether married men could be ordained as priests to address an acute shortage of clergy in the Amazon region, and whether women could be ordained as deacons in a new Amazonian rite taking into account the unique spirituality of the Amazonian Catholic faithful and their relationship with nature.
The theft of the idols has dominated debate in Catholic media and the Catholic Twittersphere, with conservatives cheering the destruction of what they consider symbols of pagan worship, and progressives accusing the culprits and their supporters of racism.