A Symbol of Life

A wood carving statue of a naked pregnant woman has been at the heart of brewing controversies since before the Vatican’s major summit on the Amazon region began. The small statue was stolen from the Church of Santa Maria in Traspontina, a Roman church, and tossed in the Tiber River. News of the incident, along with a video of it, was first reported by LifeSite News and Church Militant, traditionalist websites that have been frequently critical of the image. Critics of the statue have repeatedly characterized it as a graven pagan image, known as Pachamama in Peru, while other defenders of it initially characterized it as an indigenous statue of the Virgin Mary. A Vatican spokesperson has since repeatedly said that the image is “simple representation of life.” The statue has been retrieved from the river, undamaged. Following the incident, Paolo Ruffini, the head of Vatican communications, repeated that the image represents “life, fertility, mother earth.” The statue first appeared at a prayer ceremony in the Vatican Gardens on October 4, in the presence of Pope Francis and has created a social media frenzy. During the ceremony, the Pope planted a tree and was surrounded by other images known to the Amazonian community. Later on, the image was again present at the Via Crucis procession, which included the participation of several bishops from the Synod on the Amazon.