Vatican City, Oct 16, 2019 / 07:18 am (CNA).- Fr. Giacomo Costa, a communications official for the Amazon synod, said Wednesday a wooden figure of a nude pregnant woman, which has been present at events related to the synod, is not the Virgin Mary, but is instead a female figure representing life.
“It is not the Virgin Mary, who said it is the Virgin Mary?” Costa said Oct. 16 at a press conference for the Amazon synod, a meeting taking place in the Vatican Oct. 6-27 on the ministry of the Church in the region.
The wooden figure of a pregnant woman has been described as both a Marian image and as a traditional indigenous religious symbol of the goddess Pachamama, or Mother Earth.
When told “many people have said” the woman is a figure of the Virgin Mary, Costa added “‘many have said,’ okay, as you like, but I have never heard that.”
“There is nothing to know. It is an indigenous woman who represents life,” he stated, adding that his information commission will look for more information about it, but “it is a feminine figure” and is “neither pagan nor sacred.”
Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Vatican communications dicastery, said Wednesday he sees the figure as “representing life.”
“Fundamentally, it represents life. And enough. I believe to try and see pagan symbols or to see… evil, it is not,” he said, adding that “it represents life through a woman.” He equated the image to that of a tree, saying “a tree is a sacred symbol.”
Ruffini said that interpretation is his personal opinion, and he was not speaking as the head of Vatican communications or synod communications.
He added that “We know that some things in history have many interpretations” and he would look for more information about the image and inform journalists about what he finds out.
Cristiane Murray, vice director of the Holy See press office, added that more information about the wooden figure should be sought from REPAM or the organizers of the events where the image has been present.
Mauricio Lopez, REPAM’s executive secretary, told CNA after the press conference that he could not comment on the press conference, directing CNA to Costa’s remarks, as the “official spokesperson” of the Synod.
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
Vatican City, Apr 16, 2018 / 11:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has approved the advancement of the causes of eight Servants of God, all priests and religious, including Fr. Varghese Payyappilly of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, based in Kerala… […]
Vatican City, Nov 5, 2019 / 11:12 am (CNA).- A 50 million euro loan request to secure the purchase of a bankrupt hospital was vetoed by Cardinal George Pell and financial authorities at the Institute for Works of Religion, commonly called the Vatican Bank, before it was approved by the Holy See’s central bank, APSA, where the loan breached international regulatory agreements.
According to several Vatican officials, in late 2014 two cardinals requested that the IOR, the Vatican’s commercial bank, grant a 50 million euro loan to a for-profit partnership between the Holy See’s Secretariat of State and a religious order, which intended to purchase a bankrupt Italian hospital, then in government-administered bankruptcy.
Cardinal Angelo Becciu, then an archbishop, and Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi were both involved in the plan, and requested the loan from the IOR, several Vatican officials told CNA.
Their loan proposal was rejected in 2015, when the IOR board determined that the IDI would never be able to repay the loan, senior sources at two Vatican financial agencies told CNA.
Officials at APSA and the Prefecture for the Economy told CNA that Pell was vocally opposed to the loan proposal. The cardinal was at that time charged by Pope Francis with reforming Vatican finances.
It was clear the proposal would have “been a case of throwing good money after bad. There was no question of a return to stability, let alone profit,” one official told CNA.
“They were desperate,” a senior source at the Prefecture for the Economy told CNA. “There was simply no other way to make it work.”
While the IDI loan was being considered at APSA, Pell’s office, which had been given oversight of the central bank’s portfolio, refused to sign off on the transaction, Vatican sources told CNA.
But Pell’s resistance was apparently not enough to stop the loan.
A senior source at APSA told CNA that “there was no taking ‘no’ for an answer,” and that the deal was “passionately” insisted on by Versaldi and Becciu. “It was never not going to happen,” the source told CNA, “the prefecture tried to block the agreement but it went ahead anyway.”
Vatican officials told CNA that Becciu, and Cardinal Versaldi, went to APSA for the loan because the central bank had already shown itself resistant to financial reforms at the Vatican. The Secretariat of State, where Becciu was the second-ranking official, was also reportedly resistant to Pell’s efforts at financial transparency and reform.
“The was a basic, point blank, refusal to share information, to collaborate, or to open the books to the Prefecture and the Council for the Economy,” one senior source at the Prefecture for the Economy told CNA. “This has been a consistent attitude from both State and APSA.”
After conflict over the loan, Pope Francis withdrew oversight authority over APSA’s investment decisions from Pell’s office. Multiple Vatican sources told CNA that decision was strongly influenced by lobbying from Becciu.
Cardinal Becciu was also responsible for the cancellation of a proposed external audit by PricewaterhouseCooper of all Vatican finances, and opposed to Cardinal Pell’s intention to end the practice of keeping some Holy See assets and funds “off books.”
Senior sources at the Prefecture for the Economy and APSA told CNA that the cancellation of the audit was also explained, in part, by promises that an independent audit of APSA was already planned.
But sources at both APSA and the Prefecture for the Economy said that no external or independent audit of APSA has actually been conducted, and that there has instead been a “good faith undertaking” between APSA and the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority (AIF).
Senior sources at the Prefecture for the Economy and APSA also told CNA that efforts to enforce transparency at the Vatican’s central bank and Secretariat of State played a decisive part in the ouster of the first Auditor General, Libero Milone, in 2017.
Milone has stated that he was forced to resign under threat of prosecution because he was pressing for information about the hundreds of millions of euros held off-books by curial bodies.
“Some people got worried that I was about to uncover something I shouldn’t see,” Milone told the Financial Times on November 2. “We were getting too close to information that they wanted to be secret, and they fabricated a situation for me to be thrown out.”
At the time of Milone’s forced departure, Cardinal Becciu defended his role in removing the auditor, saying that he had exceeded his mandate.
“He went against all the rules and was spying on the private lives of his superiors and staff, including me,” Becciu said in 2017. “If he had not agreed to resign, we would have prosecuted him.”
CNA asked Cardinal Becciu for comment on his role in seeking an IOR loan for the purchase of the IDI. The cardinal declined to comment.
When Pope Pius IX declared the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary on December 8, 1854, he had a golden crown added to the mosaic of Mary, Virgin Immaculate, in the Chapel of the Choir in St. Peter’s Basilica. / Daniel Ibañez/CNA
Vatican City, May 29, 2023 / 10:30 am (CNA).
To honor the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Vatican offers a special Marian pilgrimage within St. Peter’s Basilica each Saturday afternoon during the month of May.
The Marian itinerary brings pilgrims from Michelangelo’s marble sculpture of the Pieta to Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a 12th-century painting brought into the basilica in 1578 in a solemn procession.
For those unable to travel to the Eternal City, CNA is providing the following “virtual tour” with photos by Daniel Ibañez of eight beautiful images of Our Lady in St. Peter’s Basilica for the feast of Mary, Mother of the Church.
In St. Peter’s Basilica’s Chapel of the Choir, a large mosaic based on painting by Italian artist Pietro Bianchi depicts Mary, Virgin Immaculate, in the glory of heaven being venerated by St. John Chrysostom (left) and other saints. Daniel Ibañez/CNA
Virgin Immaculate
In the basilica’s Chapel of the Choir, a large altarpiece reveals Mary, Virgin Immaculate, in the glory of heaven above angels and saints. The mosaic based on an 18th-century painting by Italian artist Pietro Bianchi depicts St. John Chrysostom St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Anthony of Padua venerating the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The chapel is located on the left side of the basilica behind an iron gate designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. St. John Chrysostom is buried beneath the altar, which also contains relics of St. Francis and St. Anthony.
When Pope Pius IX declared the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary on December 8, 1854, he had a golden crown added to the mosaic of Mary. Pope Pius X later added a larger diamond crown to mark the 50th anniversary of the declaration in 1904.
The original painting by Bianchi can be found in Rome’s Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri.
Mother of the Church
St. Peter’s Basilica contains an icon of the Virgin Mary titled “Mater Ecclesiae,” which means “Mother of the Church.”. Daniel Ibañez/CNA
The basilica contains an icon of the Virgin Mary titled “Mater Ecclesiae,” which means “Mother of the Church.”
The original image of the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child was painted on a column in old St. Peter’s Basilica, built by Emperor Constantine in the fourth century. It was later transferred to the 16th-century St. Peter’s Basilica. Paul VI honored the icon with the title “Mater Ecclesiae” after the Second Vatican Council.
A mosaic of the Virgin Mary overlooking St. Peter’s Square was inspired by the original Mater Ecclesiae image. The mosaic was installed after the assassination attempt against St. John Paul II in 1981.
When he blessed the mosaic, John Paul II prayed “that all those who will come to this St. Peter’s Square will lift up their gaze towards you [Mary], to direct, with feelings of filial trust, their greetings and their prayers.”
In 2018, Pope Francis added the memorial of “Mary, Mother of the Church” to the liturgical calendar for the Monday after Pentecost.
Mother of Pilgrims
A restored 16th-century painting of Our Lady holding her Son can be found in St. Peter’s Basilica above the sarcophagus of Pope Gregory XIV under the title “Mother of Pilgrims.”. Daniel Ibañez/CNA
A restored 16th-century painting of Our Lady holding her son can be found in St. Peter’s Basilica above the sarcophagus of Pope Gregory XIV.
The image is titled “Mater Peregrinorum” or Mother of Pilgrims. The original artist is not known, but Italians also refer to the painting as the “Madonna di Scossacavalli” because it came from Rome’s Church of San Giacomo Scossacavalli, which was demolished in 1937 to create the current Via della Conciliazione leading to St. Peter’s Basilica.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help
A 12th-century painting on wood titled Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the Gregorian Chapel of St. Peter’s Basilica. Daniel Ibañez/CNA
A 12th-century painting on wood titled Our Lady of Perpetual Help, also known as Our Lady of Succor, was transferred to an altar in St. Peter’s Gregorian Chapel on February 12, 1578 with a solemn procession.
The painting was the first artistic restoration completed under Pope Francis’ pontificate during the Year of Faith, according to a book published by the Knights of Columbus.
The remains of the Doctor of the Church St. Gregory of Nazianzus (d. 390) are preserved in an urn beneath the Altar of Our Lady of Succor in the Gregorian Chapel, found on the right side of the basilica.
Ark of the Covenant
A mosaic altarpiece of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary in the Temple can be found above the tomb of Pope St. Pius X near the left-front entrance of the basilica. Daniel Ibañez/CNA
A colorful mosaic altarpiece of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary in the Temple brightens the wall above the tomb of Pope St. Pius X (d. 1914) in the Presentation Chapel near the left-front entrance of the basilica.
A young Mary is depicted on the steps of the Temple with her parents, Sts. Anne and Joachim, the grandparents of Jesus.
The mosaic completed by Pietro Paolo Cristofari in 1728 is based on a painting by 17th-century artist Giovanni Francesco Romaneli, the original of which can be found in Rome’s Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri.
Gate of Heaven
According to Father Agnello Stoia, the pastor of the parish of St. Peter’s Basilica, the 15th-century image of Mary on the oldest door of St. Peter’s Basilica is a reminder of Mary’s title, “Gate of Heaven.”. Daniel Ibañez/CNA
The central door leading to basilica was retained from the old St. Peter’s Basilica and is known as the Filarete Door. Created by a Florentine artist in 1455, the door depicts Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the apostles Sts. Peter and Paul.
According to Father Agnello Stoia, the pastor of the parish of St. Peter’s Basilica, the 15th-century image of Mary on the door is a reminder of Mary’s title, “Gate of Heaven.”
Queen Assumed into Heaven
The mosaics decorating the interior dome of St. Peter’s Basilica depict the Blessed Virgin Mary next to Christ the Redeemer and the Apostles. Daniel Ibañez/CNA
Looking up at the soaring cupola, or dome, of St. Peter’s Basilica, one sees mosaics depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary next to Christ the Redeemer, along with St. John the Baptist and the apostles.
The mosaic of the Virgin Mary on the Great Dome, completed in 1610 by Orazio Gentileschi, is based on drawings by Italian Mannerist painter Giuseppe Cesari.
Mother of the Redeemer
Michelangelo’s Pieta conveys the faith and emotion of the Blessed Virgin Mary as she cradles in her arms the dead body of her only son after witnessing him crucified. Daniel Ibañez/CNA
Michelangelo Buonarroti carved the Pieta from a single slab of Carrara marble when he was 24-years old. The sculpture was unveiled in St. Peter’s Basilica for the Jubilee of 1500.
The moving sculpture conveys the faith and emotion of the Blessed Virgin Mary as she cradles in her arms the dead body of her only son after witnessing him crucified.
The sculpture sits above a side-altar near the front entrance of St. Peter’s Basilica, where Mass was sometimes offered before recent restrictions. Visitors to the basilica can only see the Pieta behind bulletproof glass after a man attacked the sculpture with a hammer in May 1972.
The Pieta was the only work of art that Michelangelo ever signed.
From Costa and Ruffini we read: “The wooden figure of a pregnant woman has been described as both a Marian image and as a traditional indigenous religious symbol of the goddess Pachamama, or Mother Earth.”
“Fundamentally, it represents life. And enough. I believe to try and see pagan symbols or to see… evil, it is not. . .it represents life through a woman.”
First, a HYBRID–like the pagan Zeus was a hybrid offspring from a pagan deity and a primordial human, and then life through a woman IN PLACE OF all-creation from–as the incarnate Jesus Christ words it–a “Father who art in heaven.”
“Evil, it is not,” we are reassured. TRANSLATION: Don’t turn on the lights just yet.
I’ll let my imagination run wild a bit and envision Pachamama worship by Pope Francis and Hierarchy inside St Peter’s in front of the main altar. Pachamama who breast feeds pigs and weasels. And heretics. The Abomination of Desolation consecrated? Just a hideous passing thought. Back to reality. Although I don’t believe the Pontiff and hierarchy friends are occultists their apparent sham is to push a Naturalist agenda. That everything arises from natural properties and causes, and supernatural or spiritual explanations are discounted. As said before this trial is permitted by God. And consequently there’s a purpose that apparently is the offer of two pathways one in obedience to Christ and salvation the other in obedience to purveyors of false doctrine.
Actually Steve the much larger majority of faithful outspoken Catholics are now Laity, which is to your point. My experience indicates clergy are largely silent more due to complacent lack of faith than fear of repercussion. If as trending due to lack of papal leadership, coherent doctrine – and that’s still an if – national hierarchies dissolve Laity will naturally assume prominence. Although I hope with some confidence there will be faithful bishops and cardinals even presbyters to which we can form a global diaspora type Church unified by one faith. Perhaps Benedict XVI had similar in mind when he envisioned a smaller remnant Church. Surely there will be a faithful remnant whatever transpires on this rocky road we’re treading.
Do a google/images search on pachamama. Some interesting photos and explanations come up.
YES, it is pagan and YES it was bowed down to in the Vatican…and that included a Franciscan in his habit. How stupid does the pope’s handlers think the laity is? This is 2019, where access to this information is easy and instantaneous.
My only question regarding all this nonsense is this: where are the MEN with enough testosterone to rid our chapel in the Vatican of these abominations? Where are the living saints who will stand up for the Church and throw out pagan idols from our churches?
Marge you deserve acknowledgment from a priest. There are men and women like yourself that I serve. There are unfortunately few priests where I’m at that see any issue and seem clueless. The missionaries I worked with in Africa and Africans themselves were more aware of events in the Church. The difficultly is a universal one. The appointment of bishops most of whom are concerned with position rather than conveying the Word of God. Exceptions of course Cardinal Sarah. I mentioned Pachamama idolatry though the Hierarchy are simply patronizing the indigenous more intent on the Pontiff’s agenda. A recent Rome poster showed a native woman holding her infant in one arm the other facilitating a weasel to feed from her breast likely a lampoon of the Pachamama nonsense. She likely has breast fed that weasel as a pup to keep him as a deterrent to rats a great problem in usually rat infested native villages. Rats who invade huts at night destroying food and attacking infants. She in her primitive condition trying to survive yet lampooned. These are the persons created in God’s image that we missionaries suffer to save from idolatry uplift to the image of Christ. Amazonia ideologues are more intent on patronizing the indigenous for sake of their false Christianity. This is the battle for truth within the Church and only the faithful brave will stand and for with Christ’s children.
Marge you’d likely be interested in an article, quite relevant addressing your point just posted by Edward Pentin in NCR. How an Amazon Pagan Rite Brought 48 Years of Demonic Torment, Until Christ Freed Me.
From Costa and Ruffini we read: “The wooden figure of a pregnant woman has been described as both a Marian image and as a traditional indigenous religious symbol of the goddess Pachamama, or Mother Earth.”
“Fundamentally, it represents life. And enough. I believe to try and see pagan symbols or to see… evil, it is not. . .it represents life through a woman.”
First, a HYBRID–like the pagan Zeus was a hybrid offspring from a pagan deity and a primordial human, and then life through a woman IN PLACE OF all-creation from–as the incarnate Jesus Christ words it–a “Father who art in heaven.”
“Evil, it is not,” we are reassured. TRANSLATION: Don’t turn on the lights just yet.
Wasn’t it pagan idolatry [spiritual adultery] that caused the Jews to be exiled to Babylon?
I’ll let my imagination run wild a bit and envision Pachamama worship by Pope Francis and Hierarchy inside St Peter’s in front of the main altar. Pachamama who breast feeds pigs and weasels. And heretics. The Abomination of Desolation consecrated? Just a hideous passing thought. Back to reality. Although I don’t believe the Pontiff and hierarchy friends are occultists their apparent sham is to push a Naturalist agenda. That everything arises from natural properties and causes, and supernatural or spiritual explanations are discounted. As said before this trial is permitted by God. And consequently there’s a purpose that apparently is the offer of two pathways one in obedience to Christ and salvation the other in obedience to purveyors of false doctrine.
Fr. Morello,
I think there might be another purpose for disobedience to God in the hierarchy.
I think God might be slowly strengthening the laity to function in the midst of a future world environment where Christianity is largely illegal.
Actually Steve the much larger majority of faithful outspoken Catholics are now Laity, which is to your point. My experience indicates clergy are largely silent more due to complacent lack of faith than fear of repercussion. If as trending due to lack of papal leadership, coherent doctrine – and that’s still an if – national hierarchies dissolve Laity will naturally assume prominence. Although I hope with some confidence there will be faithful bishops and cardinals even presbyters to which we can form a global diaspora type Church unified by one faith. Perhaps Benedict XVI had similar in mind when he envisioned a smaller remnant Church. Surely there will be a faithful remnant whatever transpires on this rocky road we’re treading.
Do a google/images search on pachamama. Some interesting photos and explanations come up.
YES, it is pagan and YES it was bowed down to in the Vatican…and that included a Franciscan in his habit. How stupid does the pope’s handlers think the laity is? This is 2019, where access to this information is easy and instantaneous.
My only question regarding all this nonsense is this: where are the MEN with enough testosterone to rid our chapel in the Vatican of these abominations? Where are the living saints who will stand up for the Church and throw out pagan idols from our churches?
Marge you deserve acknowledgment from a priest. There are men and women like yourself that I serve. There are unfortunately few priests where I’m at that see any issue and seem clueless. The missionaries I worked with in Africa and Africans themselves were more aware of events in the Church. The difficultly is a universal one. The appointment of bishops most of whom are concerned with position rather than conveying the Word of God. Exceptions of course Cardinal Sarah. I mentioned Pachamama idolatry though the Hierarchy are simply patronizing the indigenous more intent on the Pontiff’s agenda. A recent Rome poster showed a native woman holding her infant in one arm the other facilitating a weasel to feed from her breast likely a lampoon of the Pachamama nonsense. She likely has breast fed that weasel as a pup to keep him as a deterrent to rats a great problem in usually rat infested native villages. Rats who invade huts at night destroying food and attacking infants. She in her primitive condition trying to survive yet lampooned. These are the persons created in God’s image that we missionaries suffer to save from idolatry uplift to the image of Christ. Amazonia ideologues are more intent on patronizing the indigenous for sake of their false Christianity. This is the battle for truth within the Church and only the faithful brave will stand and for with Christ’s children.
Marge you’d likely be interested in an article, quite relevant addressing your point just posted by Edward Pentin in NCR. How an Amazon Pagan Rite Brought 48 Years of Demonic Torment, Until Christ Freed Me.