ROME, October 25, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Pope Francis has called the carved wooden statues at the center of an idolatry scandal in the Vatican “Pachamama statues,” confirming suspicions that the statues were idols of the Incan fertility goddess.

Speaking to attendees at the Amazon Synod, he apologized as “the bishop of Rome” to those who were offended at the statues being removed from the church and thrown into the Tiber.

He also said the statues have been displayed without intending to be idolatrous.

Read the full transcript of the Pope's remarks here.

The story was first broken by I.MEDIA in France, whose reporter was present in the meeting hall of the synod this afternoon and overheard the pope’s remarks. National Catholic Reporter’s Josh McElwee confirmed the report with a tweeted video where the pope’s voice can be heard but not clearly. He cites NCR's Brian Roewe for recording it.

McElwee tweeted: “It's very hard to make out fully what Pope Francis said about the throwing of indigenous statues in the Tiber, but the pope clearly said to the #AmazonSynod bishops: 'As bishop of the diocese [of Rome], I ask forgiveness.'”

LifeSite has applied audio "noise" reduction filters to enhance the sound quality:

José Sierra, the head of the Pontifical Mission Works in Canada, added: “The Pope seems to have said that the statues were found in the river and this (situation) has caused him so much turmoil in his soul ("ci hanno creato tanto clamore nella mia alma").”