Fr Giacomo Costa, a synod official had told a press conference: “It is not the Virgin Mary, who said it is the Virgin Mary?… It is an indigenous woman who represents life.” But another synod official, Fr Roberto Carrasco Rojas OMI has insisted that the statue is a Marian figure. “This figure is the Virgin Mary of the Amazon, Our Lady of the Amazon,” he told Rome Reports. “It’s a devotion that started in the indigenous communities… They carved in wood an image of a blessed mother, who is pregnant.” However, Bishop David MartΓnez De Aguirre Guinea told reporters at an press briefing on October 7 this: “Probably, those who used this symbol wished to refer to fertility, to women, to life, the life present among these Amazonian people and Amazonia is meant to be full of life. I don’t think we need to create any connections with the Virgin Mary or with a Pagan element.”
So-called traditionalist bloggers and podcasters such as Dr. Taylor Marshall and Michael Voris have called the figure "Pachamama" or a pagan goddess. I have not found any Vatican offical call the figure by this name. It derives solely from traditionalist and conservative squares. Moreover, the images of "pachamama" do not match the ones presented at the Vatican. Pachamama is often depicted as a heavy set indigenous woman. Other depictions show her as pregnant or as a mountain figure.
Here are the videos:
The video has this caption:
“for only one reason: Our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ, his blessed Mother, and everybody who follows Christ, are being attacked by members of our own Church. We do not accept this! We do not longer stay silent! We start to act NOW!” [sic]
“Because we love humanity, we can not accept that people of a certain region should not get baptised and therefore are being denied entrance into heaven,” the caption continues. “It is our duty to follow the words of God like our holy Mother did. There is no second way of salvation. Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat!”
The act was described by Vatican officials as a "stunt" and "theft." Ruffini said, "is a gesture that seems to me to contradict the spirit of dialogue that should always animate everything. I don't know what else to say. It was theft." He added of the incident, “seems to me to contradict the gesture of dialogue." Fr. Costa said that the images represents life in the Amazon like "glass of water or parrots" represents the region. Focus on the statues, and the gesture of throwing them into the Tiber river, doesn't make sense. However, it is never constructive to steal an object."
Here is some reaction on Twitter. Many Catholics celebrated the theft and dumping of the statues. Others have interpreted as a sign of xenophobia:
Video taken by Catholic heroes of the removal of the desecrating Pachamama idols from St Maria Transpontina and throwing them into the river Tiber— Nick Donnelly (@ProtecttheFaith) October 21, 2019
They were thrown into the river by Castel Sant'angelo, beneath the statue of St Michael the Archangel
https://t.co/BFNcVgC9Ti
Breaking (or Floating): Two men break into a Roman church, abduct the Amazonian indigenous "symbol of life" statues, and send them to the paripheries. https://t.co/x3Hgwo5V1S— Raymond Arroyo (@RaymondArroyo) October 21, 2019
Video has emerged of two men entering a church near the Vatican and stealing indigenous statues. They then filmed the statues being thrown into the Tiber River. #AmazonSynod #SinodoAmazonico pic.twitter.com/IXx5NgFDZN— EWTN News (@EWTNews) October 21, 2019
Now someone has stolen the figures, popularly referred to as "Our Lady of the Amazon," from the church where they were displayed - at least one of which was blessed by the pope - and tossed them into the Tiber. https://t.co/kVaorRvOXh pic.twitter.com/VMdGAycBBl— πππ π πππ¬ππ¨ (@mfjlewis) October 21, 2019
An act of iconoclasm, and a further attack on the indigenous of the Amazon, who are already persecuted.— Christopher Lamb (@ctrlamb) October 21, 2019
This takes place amid a climate of hostility to indigenous icons generated in some Church quarters during the Amazon synod https://t.co/YbLK0GiuWQ
It would help to have an apology from the Catholic news medium that first put out a story describing her as a pagan fertility symbol without ever asking the indigenous people, their pastors or the synod organisers who or what she was. Fake news has consequences. #sinodoamazonico https://t.co/u3EnYFwfa4— Austen Ivereigh (@austeni) October 21, 2019
A wood carving statue of a naked pregnant woman that has been at the heart of brewing controversies since before the Vatican’s major summit on the Amazon region began was stolen from a Roman Church on Monday and tossed in the Tiber River.— Christopher White (@cwwhite212) October 21, 2019
My story @Crux: https://t.co/IYHzgI4uwe
Just prayed here at Transpontina church at altar where, in an act of appalling disrespect & violence, fanatics egged on by ethics-free journalism this am broke in here & threw into the Tiber the figurine described by the Catholic people of Amazonia as Our Lady of the Amazon. pic.twitter.com/G8PSaK175m— Austen Ivereigh (@austeni) October 21, 2019
Someone find this MAN and bestow upon him The Supreme Order of Christ (the highest chivalric award a Pope can bestow but, sadly, none since 1987.) He well deserves it. https://t.co/EssOVcv2iR— M3 Squared (@m3_squared) October 21, 2019
Best 4 seconds since the Amazon Synod started pic.twitter.com/PoHr8UnOZw— Is the Pope Catholic? (@IsPopeCatholic) October 21, 2019
For Catholics hesitant to endorse the removal of the Pachamama idols, note they were taken from a Catholic church. This is like someone setting up an idol in your home; you have every right to remove it. And every Catholic church is “owned”, in a very real sense, by the faithful.— Eric Sammons (@EricRSammons) October 21, 2019
Controversial Amazon Synod statues seized and thrown into the Tiber River https://t.co/imXxgQ3k7X— Edward Pentin (@EdwardPentin) October 21, 2019
Rejoice, wonderful news— Nick Donnelly (@ProtecttheFaith) October 21, 2019
The Pachamama idols from St Maria Transpontina have been thrown into the river Tiber
Let the Catholic world sing out a Te deum laudamus
My heartfelt thank to the Catholic heroes who have done this https://t.co/nubuFEPeuC
Video taken by Catholic heroes of the removal of the desecrating Pachamama idols from St Maria Transpontina and throwing them into the river Tiber— Nick Donnelly (@ProtecttheFaith) October 21, 2019
They were thrown into the river by Castel Sant'angelo, beneath the statue of St Michael the Archangel
https://t.co/BFNcVgC9Ti
— ☧Sacerdotus™⚛✡ (@Sacerdotus) October 21, 2019
I am from the Amazon (BelΓ©m, PA, Brazil) and I say with all authority: Amazonian Catholics are celebrating the destruction of the 'Pachamama' pagan idol.— Lucas Klautau (@klautau_lucas) October 21, 2019
Cry, modernist. In the Amazon we have only one queen: Our Lady of Nazareth, the horror of the pagans.
Catholicism's own Taliban strike Rome today (cit.)— Massimo Faggioli (@MassimoFaggioli) October 21, 2019
This take on theological and symbolical inculturation from #AmazonSynod reminds me of Trump saying that he would be happy to accept more migrants from Norway https://t.co/mVivABSNUa— Massimo Faggioli (@MassimoFaggioli) October 21, 2019
A sick crime. The statue was in the church to represent life given us by God.— Dawn Eden Goldstein (@DawnofMercy) October 21, 2019
Catholic churches are full of allegorical images--pelicans, eagles, fish, human representations of virtues. Yet when Amazonian Catholics designate an image to represent their faith, they are "pagan." https://t.co/wa67XjQsy9
The comments on this EWTN video of racist vandalism are shocking and sad. https://t.co/CpZSoaFt3d— Jonathan Lewis (@jlewDistrict) October 21, 2019
Let's fill #CatholicTwitter with allegorical figures that non-Catholics might assume we worship, when in fact we reverence not the images but who & what they represent.— Dawn Eden Goldstein (@DawnofMercy) October 21, 2019
Here is a Holy Pelican, representing the Eucharist, on the altar of the Cathedral of St. John @DIOCESEofCLE. pic.twitter.com/r8Q5xLdt4K
At the Gesu in Rome, by the altar of St. Ignatius: a Marian-style allegorical image by Pierre Le Gros represents "Religion Overthrowing Heresy and Hatred."— Dawn Eden Goldstein (@DawnofMercy) October 21, 2019
Yet a Marian-style allegorical image in a church, which indigenous Catholics say represents life, was "pagan"? #hypocrisy pic.twitter.com/cAkLD47edf
Perfectly normal folks, nothing to see here, just 2 thieves entering Santa Maria in Traspontina Church, stealing symbols of the indigenous people of the Amazon then hurling them into the Tiber River. A disgrace and desecration: https://t.co/78zZYoKdYD— Rich Raho (@RichRaho) October 21, 2019
Not only is this an act of theft, but also an affront to Pope Francis who was presented with one of the statues at #AmazonSynod dedication ceremony. pic.twitter.com/Mv0F7qa4q1— Rich Raho (@RichRaho) October 21, 2019
Yes, it is perfectly normal. And good. And Heaven is rejoicing. pic.twitter.com/doQstCfJZP— Molly Mac (@mollymac456) October 21, 2019
I announce to you with great joy: the Pachamama idols that polluted the Church of St Maria Transpontina have been cast away into the Tiber River as an act of obedience to Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ & in reparation to His Sacred Heart wounded by sin: https://t.co/weBoYJKN8W pic.twitter.com/9GSDmCYWrl— Dr Taylor Marshall π₯ (@TaylorRMarshall) October 21, 2019
The hatred and contempt that the Synod for the Amazon has unleashed is astonishing. A hatred for indigenous peoples and their cultures. A portrayal of them as "other." And a hatred of course for Pope Francis. All this hatred leads inevitably to violence.— James Martin, SJ (@JamesMartinSJ) October 21, 2019
https://t.co/MjematEjvq
As you can see, many Catholics are happy that the images were stolen and thrown into the river. They see the images as idols or even a demon which was enthroned at the Vatican. However, not everyone was happy. Some consider the act as an act of xenophobia and racism. A Jesuit priest even reported Deacon Nick, Dr. Taylor and others for this:
During writing breaks today I’m reporting racist, xenophobic tweets regarding theft of statues carved by indigenous artists for the #AmazonSynod, including from @ProtecttheFaith, @TaylorRMarshall, @RorateCaeli. This is more than intolerance, it is sick hate mongering.— Kyle J. Baker, SJ (@bakerkylej) October 21, 2019
As I stated before, I am not sure what the images are. They were presented as Our Lady of the Amazon, but then were presented as a female figure representing life only to later be described as the Virgin Mary again and then as a figure of the Amazon. It is so confusing. I personally do not believe it is Pachamama. I see no evidence for this and no one at the Vatican nor the Amazon natives have called the figure by this name. The name only can be found from sources within the so-called traditionalist blogosphere and other reactionaries.
What is troubling to me is the celebration of theft and the destruction of property. Let us supposed that, in fact, these were idols and the bloggers are correct. Should we steal things and destroy property? When the Statue of Liberty was proposed as a gift to the United States, Catholic New Yorkers protested heavily because the statue is a pagan goddess Libertas. They felt that this was a celebration and introduction of Paganism into American lives. The protests went nowhere and the frenzy died down. No one saw the statue as a pagan goddess. Even today, no one even identifies the statue as such. The Statue of Liberty stands alone as simply the Statue of Liberty that represents liberty, immigrants, New York and America.
To see Dr. Taylor Marshall and others celebrate the sin of theft is disturbing. What happened to "thou shalt not steal?" He cites events in the past regarding saints and others, but we are not in those times. Are Catholics supposed to enter satanic temples now and bash the heads of satanic statues? Are Catholics supposed to now go and destroy Buddha statues? Is this the norm he wants? This is crazy talk. Furthermore, the charge about xenophobia and racism is not one we can ignore. Even if this figure is not the Virgin Mary, we have to be concerned about the hate being demonstrated by whites against indigenous people. Virgin Mary or not, the image is representative of a culture, of a people. To trash it and speak ill of it is pretty much a reflection xenophobia and hate. This issue has to be looked into greatly. If this image is finally decided by the Vatican as representing the Virgin Mary as the Amazonians interpret her, then Taylor and company are in big trouble. They will have to answer to the charges of racism and xenophobia.
We should also be concerned about copycats looking to make a statement, as well as, the fact that this church has no security. How can this Vatican landmark not have security?
UPDATE:
The group behind the Amazon Synod will be charging the men and is looking to identify them:
When @EWTNNewsNightly asked for #Vatican comment on this morning’s removal and disposal of #AmazonSynod icon:— Bree A Dail (@breeadail) October 21, 2019
“It is a theft. An act of bravado. A gesture, in my opinion, against the special dialogue that should always animate everybody.”#CatholicTwitter pic.twitter.com/pT6uR3zp3S
What do you think? Post your comment below on Disqus. Remember to follow the rules for commenting.
Source:
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2019-10/ruffini-vatican-prefect-on-theft-of-statues-in-rome.html
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/analysis-a-pink-dolphin-a-carved-image-and-inculturation-at-the-amazon-synod-45946
https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2019/10/21/thieves-steal-amazon/
https://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2019/10/21/amazonian-statues-thrown-into-river-tiber/
https://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2019/10/21/amazonian-statues-thrown-into-river-tiber/
https://www.apnews.com/c7a9a84f0d24444492eb0922b5349b6f
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/amazon-synods-controversial-carved-figures-thrown-into-tiber-river-45142
https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2019/10/21/controversial-amazon-statue-stolen-from-church-thrown-in-romes-tiber-river/
https://www.churchmilitant.com/video/episode/vortex-pachamama-drowned
https://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2019/10/21/amazonian-statues-thrown-into-river-tiber/?platform=hootsuite
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for reading and for your comment. All comments are subject to approval. They must be free of vulgarity, ad hominem and must be relevant to the blog posting subject matter.