VATICAN CITY, October 22, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — Numerous Catholics around the world are celebrating the removal and destruction of statues believed to be pagan fertility idols from a Catholic church in Rome yesterday by Catholic men who remain anonymous.
Support for the unknown men who filmed themselves this week collecting the wooden figures from the Church of Santa Maria in Traspontina and throwing them into the Tiber has not abated on social media since the video of the event was released. Twitter users are using #Splashamama to celebrate the event.
The group responsible for the Amazonian “spirituality” display in the Catholic church, the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (REPAM), appeared to condemn, without mentioning it specifically, the removal and destruction of the “Pachamama” statues. The group, which advocates on behalf of Amazon peoples and is headed by synod leader Cardinal Cláudio Hummes, has allegedly reported the incident to police.
“We deeply regret and at the same time denounce that in recent days we have been victims of acts of violence, which reflect religious intolerance, racism, oppressive attitudes, which affect above all indigenous peoples, a refusal to build new roads for the renewal of our Church,” the group stated in an Oct. 21 press release.
Numerous Catholics from around the world, however, have acted in solidarity with the Pachamama-destroyers, claiming to have done the deed themselves.
“I am Cristeros,” a play on “I am Spartacus,” has become a Twitter meme.
In a climactic scene in the 1960 film Spartacus, a group of escaped slaves who have been recaptured by the Romans are told they will receive mercy if they identify their leader, Spartacus. As the leader stands up to give himself up, he is joined by all the slaves in an act of solidarity, each proclaiming himself to be Spartacus and all thus showing themselves to willingly share in their leader’s fate of capital punishment.
Catholic Twitter user Deacon Nick Donnelly of England tweeted that if the group behind the Amazon Synod wants to “identify” the Pachamama-destroyers, then “I am Cristeros.”
“Edward Pentin reports on EWTN Vatican that REPAM, the group behind the Amazon Synod intend to take action against the Cristeros heroes who tossed the idols into the Tiber. They are seeking to identify them,” he wrote. “I am Cristeros.”
.@EdwardPentin reports on @EWTNVatican that REPAM, the group behind the Amazon Synod intend to take action against the Cristeros heroes who tossed the idols into the Tiber. They are seeking to identify them
I am Cristeroshttps://t.co/pAbetmrFTZ
— Nick Donnelly (@ProtecttheFaith) October 21, 2019
The virtual cry was taken up by Krystal Wasser, who tweeted, “I am Cristeros. Come and get me.”
Another responded, “#IamCristeros. ¡Viva Cristo Rey y Santa María de Guadalupe!” (“Long live Christ the King and Our Lady of Guadalupe!”)
“I am Cristeros,” tweeted Brigid Costello of Ireland.
The comments continue to pour out from Twitter users from the United States, Canada, Italy, and Spain.
Writer Austin Ruse, president of the Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam), quipped, “Pachamama sleeps with the fishes. I did it. I dunked her. But I give Pachamama thanks for getting me from 4950 [Twitter] followers to 5,000.”
The Cristeros were Mexican Catholics who, dissatisfied with peaceful protest, rose up in armed rebellion against the anti-clerical Mexican government in 1927. The rebels, who dedicated themselves to Christ the King, called themselves Cristeros. Their battle cry was ¡Viva Cristo Rey! ¡Viva la Vírgen de Guadalupe! (Long live Christ the King! Long live the Virgin of Guadalupe!)
John Zmirak, author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Catholicism, told LifeSiteNews that putting the wooden figures in Roman churches was a “hate crime.”
“The enshrinement of pagan idols in churches at the Vatican was a hate crime against every Catholic alive ― and against our pagan ancestors who abandoned such demonic fetishes for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jesus,” Zmirak stated.
“Imagine if some apostate imam had enshrined a taxidermied pig on top of the Qaaba in Mecca, or some self-hating rabbi had sprayed the Western Wall with swastikas. That’s how bad this was,” he continued.
“The brave members of the Church who tossed those crude sex-magick totems into the Tiber deserve our thanks and support.”
Zmirak said he wishes priests and bishops were as animated as these unknown men in their defense of the Catholic faith.
“If the Vatican identifies and prosecutes these courageous Catholics, [the men] should in turn file hate crime charges with the Italian government against the organizations that colluded in profaning these historic churches,” he concluded.
Stefanie Nicholas at OnePeterFive said the destruction of the Pachamamas was a “real win against the Modernists.”
“For the first time in a long time,” she wrote, “as Pachamama sank to the bottom of the river Tiber, the Catholic faithful took a real win against the Modernists. Let us remember this moment of victory, and be stubborn in maintaining our motivation to fight for the Church, with all of the weapons near at hand.”