Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Who Is Pachamama?
Several Amazonian idols were collected by two anonymous men, who entered an ancient church in Rome called The Church of St. Mary in Traspontina, not far from St. Peter’s Square. Before dawn on October 21, they tossed them into the Tiber River.
The carved Pachamama figurines were found and scooped out of the water by the Italian police and are in the control of an Italian police commander. The Pope apologized, according to the latest news, to the Amazonians, not the faithful, who are the subject and guests of the Pope’s recent Synod. Catholics and apparently two mysterious men, were outraged at the false idols being placed at various altars and other holy areas during this Synod.
Several Ricochet members have already posted these stories, including @scottwilmot, and @brianwatt.
Definition of Pachamama according to Wikipedia:
Pachamama is a goddess revered by the indigenous people of the Andes. She is also known as the earth/time mother. In Inca mythology, Pachamama is a fertility goddess who presides over planting and harvesting, embodies the mountains, and causes earthquakes.
The Pope was seen seated on a bench before a ceremony, along with several cardinals, as people bowed and honored Pachamama. He has suggested that the idols be returned, and is contemplating bringing them to the Church of St. Peter tomorrow, for the closing Mass of the Amazonian Synod.
There is a website about the figure.
As I peeled back the layers of this organization, who have been around since the 1990s, I discovered the goals are to move the world into a “new age” of respect for the earth, and nature, including “giving nature legal protection, for respecting indigenous peoples, and respecting all life.” Sounds good right (haven’t we been there before)? Wait, there’s more…. If you research the people giving the lectures, you’ll read how democracy is bad – the enemy, income inequality is a problem that needs to be resolved, wealth and success are wrong, and corporations are raping Mother Earth and the world’s resources, contributing to global warming, income inequality, and climate change. Some of that may be true. I respect the younger generation who are following in the footsteps of the original 1960s movement to respect the earth, our fellow human beings, to be kind to one another, equality for women, protecting children and those less fortunate, and to seek peace.
I also draw the line between taking those issues and turning them into reverse racism, gender fluidity, as if God made a mistake creating male and female, idol worship, the denigration of sovereignty, and traditional western culture. If you look closely at Pachamama.org, you will find something beyond respecting the Amazon forest and people. You’ll find classes training in ancient cults, including Egyptian and other “mysterious” forms of worship (their words), as part of their teaching programs. You’ll find humanity to be the answer, rather than God. You’ll find every New Age gobbledegook regurgitated from the ’60s, and probably every pagan civilization in the past since civilization began, that eventually met with demise, spouting the oldest lie found in Genesis – “ye shall be as gods.”
The worship of Mother Earth is nothing new, but there is a difference between respecting the earth and nature, and all-out worship, as in front of an altar. Missionaries throughout the world for centuries have sought to bring relief to the suffering, through education, clean water and food, medicine, and safe housing, while bringing the truth of the Gospel to the world — dismissing false idols, that are nothing more than myth, stone, and wood. The goddess Pachamama, and all other false gods and goddesses have never changed one thing, or bettered the lives of any human being. So what is going on? What is the purpose of this Amazonian Synod brought forth by the Catholic leadership? Where are the Gospels or the message of Jesus as being the Savior of souls? That part has been left out.
I was a kid raised in the New Age generation. I thought every path led to the same place. I had the books and likeminded friends and believed in this lie for decades. My personal spiritual journey came full circle and can assure you it was empty of substance and truth. So here we go again. Only on a much larger scale. To the Vatican – where are you and why are you not teaching new generations who don’t know what saving grace means? It seems they just want to Save the Planet and nothing else.
Published in General
Yes, that image was certainly not Christian. We are fellow creatures of God, but not remotely equivalent. Man is given stewardship over Earth as both the pinnacle and focus of all physical Creation.
Perhaps I don’t know enough about the Pachamama figure. It would not be acceptable for Mary to be understood as a fertility goddess.
Again, I should read about the specifics of how tribal pagans were converted in past centuries. It’s easy to think they simply “taught Christianity”, but they had to explain Christianity using concepts those peoples were already familiar with. It’s difficult to believe the challenges of converting Amazonian peoples are much different from past challenges.
It wasn’t a comment directed at you. It was directed at people who might believe Catholics prostrate themselves before images of Mary, like those indigenous peoples at the synod did before Pachamamma.
Here’s the thing. Bergoglio and his cadre of bishops don’t seem to believe in sanctifying grace conferred by the sacraments. If they did, they would trust in people’s God-directed ability to live chastely after marriage and divorce, rather than the impossibility of it. If they did, the Amazonian bishop who bragged he’d never baptized a native and never would would be going forth to baptize in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as he was commissioned to do by Christ. If they did, Bergoglio wouldn’t have signed an agreement with the Muslims basically saying we all worship the same God and there’s no better Way than any other.
Hate is not the opposite of love. Indifference is. These men seem indifferent to sin and to propagating the Gospel message. As I said, their positions are indistinguishable from secular leftists.
I think the issue is the current Pope Francis has made comments leading people to believe that its ok to merge faiths, to incorporate other “rituals” or ceremonies into the faith and even the Mass – this is misleading and leading souls into a false security that they are all the same so let’s blend the best of each into a global soup.
I think our difference on this is more of temperament than beliefs, Brian. Your anger is justified. But it isn’t very useful.
Anger is useful in face-to-face encounters and imminent action. But when facing a dilemma from half a world away there is no immediate response needed to motivate. Rather, rage clouds one’s judgment and prompts one to look for further aggravations. It can overshadow charity, as if hope and mercy only serve to a point and then justice alone is necessary.
Your anger has clearly pushed you to read more, which is good. I just think that I can’t defend against sacrilege on other continents, so I appeal to God without any expectation that I will be His hand in this affair.
Pope Francis does often sew confusion. Though he speaks of unity and responding to criticisms, he does not demonstrate such concerns. But I do not believe our better bishops, like Sarah and Burke, would be meek in public criticisms if one claiming to be pope promoted sacrilege. If the Church ever again must endure an Avignon-like scenario, that division will not remain hidden in private conversations.
Don’t confuse anger with passion. Don’t make assumptions that my judgment is clouded. If you want to challenge any of the issues I’ve raised on a point-by-point basis you have every opportunity to do so. But adopting a condescending tone doesn’t suit you.
The entirety of Bishop Athanasius Schneider’s open letter is worth reading. Enjoy.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/bishop-athanasius-schneider-issues-open-letter-condemning-pachamama-statue-as-new-golden-calf
I am thinking Pachamama is going to be the hot new costume this Halloween. For the adults there will, of course, be a “Sexy Pachamama” costume.
Since you mention Cardinal Burke:
Since you mentioned Cardinal Sarah:
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/cardinal-critiques-amazon-synod-working-doc-as-heretical…apostasy-urges-bishops-to-reject-it
Just to be clear, I have never advocated schism for the Church. I would prefer that Bergoglio resign the papacy. I would prefer that many in the Curia resign or risk being exposed for crimes against the Church. From a pontiff who has articulated that he prefers confusion to clarity and takes every occasion to attack traditional Catholics, there has been commentary from Catholic theologians and those who cover the Holy See, that it is more likely that it is Bergoglio who hoping to force schism.
If it came across as condescension, I apologize. Advise is not necessarily so or else fellow Christians would not be called to guide and correct each other.
The “synod” has clearly been a farce. I mentioned Cardinals Burke and Sarah because such bishops have so far restricted themselves to criticism of the Pope’s words and have not called into doubt Pope Francis himself. I have not seen them comment on Pachamama and the Pope’s supposed indulgence of idolatry.
By the way, I agree that Pope Francis has demonstrated malice toward traditional Catholics, refusing to respond to criticisms fairly as he claims to value. But I don’t think malice in some aspects is malice in all. The confusion he encourages could be a fault of ability rather than strategy. But it must be combated in either case.
It certainly seems that Pope Francis is set to tolerate, if not encourage, local deviations from liturgy and morals around the globe. I have requested that Archbishop Robert Barron address the Pachamama situation with reference to the Avignon dilemma and the wicked behavior of a few past popes. Does the Holy Spirit not guard orthopraxy as well?
Thanks.
Just a suggestion, if you want to get a better grasp on whether Bergoglio fosters confusion because of a fault of ability rather than strategy examine the backgrounds, roles and motives of the self-named St. Gallen Mafia cardinals and bishops who promoted his election and the once-ostracized and disgraced, late Cardinal Danneels who was on the balcony with Bergoglio after he was elected. Consider also his promotion of McCarrick in the face of knowledge about his predatory past, McCarrick who was the architect of Bergoglio appeasement to China and granting the Communists the authority to appoint bishops. Consider his promotion of Cocopalmerio to run the CDF. Consider his promotion of Argentinian Bishop Zanchetta, a close personal friend, who was like McCarrick a serial sexual predator of seminarians and also charged with financial malfeasance but that Bergoglio still appointed to the department of the Vatican bank in charge of the Holy See’s real estate holdings…which has come under increasing scrutiny since it was recently raided by police.
After all of this and the many heretical statements, the hurling of slanders at Vigano and traditional Catholics, and the predetermined synods, I find it difficult to attribute this to a fault in ability. Clearly, there are diligent Catholics who have been reporting on and monitoring this pontificate a heck of a lot closer than I have, who have come to the conclusion that this hasn’t just happened or that Bergoglio is being manipulated by others but that Bergoglio is knowingly and quite deliberately steering the ship.
As for Bishop Barron, my sense is that he is a political animal and has been positioning himself to be the chief propagandist for the American Church and won’t do anything to challenge or offend this pontificate. He fancies himself the successor to Bishop Fulton Sheen. But Sheen would have never posited the nonsense that Hell is empty as Barron has. I think Padre Pio had a much better take on Hell.
I hear he’s taking rooms in Avignon…
Thank you, Ricochet devout Catholics, for this discussion. I am Jewish, and I appreciate being educated in what is going on in today’s Catholic Church. It is a shame what the current Pope seems to be bringing about. Keep on keeping us informed.
Yeah, his weak talk on Hell annoys the hell out of me too! But he does more good than harm. I get daily Sheen quotes on Facebook and not everything he said was spot on either.
So, if we collide him with Benedict, they will explode in a shower of radiation?
Oooo, physics!
First entry in the Rule Book…
‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.’”
Maybe JP 2.
That was a real Pope.
The Italian bishops conference included a prayer to Pachamama on their website. They have not been admonished by His Holiness. Vatican spokespersons have not said a word about this.
It references “Mother Earth” as well. The constant temptation to this sort of thinking is why I always hated St Francis of Assisi’s “Brother Son, Sister Moon” bit.
It’s no wonder the Church’s exorcists are so busy in Latin America.
Aaron Miller
They need to turn their attention to Vatican City. Of course, I realize that might interrupt a few gay orgies.
Need of exorcisms tripled in Italy recently.
I’m shocked.
Dr. Taylor Marshall rakes Bergoglio over the coals on Pachamama and pagan idolatry:
Very powerful –