Mel Gibson on religion: what the evidence says · JRE #2254
SUBJECT: RELIGION
The short answer
Gibson claims Pope Francis brought a South American idol (Pachamama) into the church to worship, characterizing it as apostasy. During the October 2019 Vatican Synod of Bishops for the Amazon, wooden carvings depicting a naked, pregnant indigenous woman were used in a Vatican Gardens tree-planting ceremony attended by Pope Francis and were later displayed in a nearby Rome church.
Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.
we got a pope that brought a South American idol into the church to worship. The Pachamama.
What the evidence says 01 / RECORD
During the October 2019 Vatican Synod of Bishops for the Amazon, wooden carvings depicting a naked, pregnant indigenous woman were used in a Vatican Gardens tree-planting ceremony attended by Pope Francis and were later displayed in a nearby Rome church. Critics among conservative Catholics labeled the figures a pagan fertility idol called Pachamama, while Vatican officials described them as representing life and fertility rather than an object of worship. The statues were stolen from the church on October 21, 2019 and thrown into the Tiber River, prompting Pope Francis to publicly apologize on October 25 for the theft, stating the statues had been displayed "without idolatrous intentions." No Catholic Mass or liturgy involved formal veneration of the figures as a deity; the episode centers on a contested interpretation of an inculturation display versus an idolatry accusation, not a documented act of Church-sanctioned worship. Characterizing the event as the Pope bringing an idol into the church "to worship" overstates what is documented to have occurred, since the Vatican never described the statues as objects of worship and the Pope's own remarks explicitly denied idolatrous intent.