Rome, Catholic fundamentalists steal pachamama statuette from Santa Maria in Traspontina and throw it into the Tiber

A pachamama statuette, that is, a small votive idol typical of the Amazonian peoples (a symbol of motherhood and fertility), which had been brought to Rome on the occasion of the Synod for the Amazon and exhibited in the church of Santa Maria in Traspontina, was stolen overnight and then thrown into the Tiber. According to Roman newspapers, the gesture was carried out by some ultraconservative activists, fundamentalist Catholics opposed to the display of the statue: the video of the gesture was in fact posted on social networks by an ultracatholic group (however, claims are missing).

The synod for the Amazon, convened to “find new ways for the evangelization of that portion of God’s people, especially the indigenous people, who are often forgotten and without the prospect of a serene future, partly because of the crisis of the Amazon rainforest, a lung of fundamental importance for our planet” (as declared by Pope Francis), began last Oct. 6 and will end on the 27th: on the 4th, just before the opening of the work, the pachamama, brought to the Vatican by a delegation of Amazonian inhabitants, had also been displayed in the Vatican Gardens, in the presence of Pope Francis. Along with the pachamama came other Amazonian artistic products, also displayed as a sign of dialogue, as journalist and executive Paolo Ruffini, currently prefect of the Vatican’s dicastery for communication, had explained in recent days. In fact, the statue had already attracted controversy as it was interpreted as a pagan and polytheistic symbol inside a Christian temple. Ruffini had commented in a personal capacity, stressing that the work “represents life: we know that some things in history can have many interpretations, even in churches you can find things that come from the past. To see symbols of paganism is to see evil where there is no evil.”

Of course, Ruffini condemned the nocturnal raid: “We learned from social networks about this gesture,” he commented. “I can only say that stealing something from a place, moreover a sacred one, is a stunt, a meaningless gesture that contradicts the spirit of dialogue that should always animate everyone: a theft that comments itself.”

Pictured: the church of Santa Maria in Traspontina. Ph. Credit

Rome, Catholic fundamentalists steal pachamama statuette from Santa Maria in Traspontina and throw it into the Tiber

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