(Ivan Alvarado/Reuters)

So now we know: Young Alexander Tschugguel, a Catholic layman from Vienna, released a video yesterday fessing up to a now-famous/infamous act of defiance, a hell (literally) no to heresy-arcing liberalism championed by Church bureaucrats behind the Vatican’s recent Amazon Synod (reported on by NR writers here, here, and here, among others). Do watch Tschugguel’s video:

What it’s all about is this: At Santa Maria in Traspontina, a church near St. Peter’s Basilica, a Synod-related display highlighted the Andean/Incan fertility goddess “Pachamama” — a pregnant Mother Earth figure who Vaticrats sought to legitimize as a stand-in for the Virgin Mary (and, to be more thematic, Our Lady of the Amazon). She was symbolized elsewhere at the Synod by a widely shown photo of an indigenous woman clutching a child in one hand and while breastfeeding a weasel-looking animal.


Maybe Jesus meant to say, Suffer the little rodents?

The Synod was a series of shock-and-awe stunts from inception to conclusion, the message being from the architects that all of this crypto or not-so-crypto paganism, and the Synod’s other intentions — including advocating for things (married priests) at odds with Church practices — were quite good, if only because conservative Catholics were in a lather over the pagan-y proceedings not too far above the tomb of Saint Peter. O yes, conservative tears of rage were delicious, and maybe alone were worth the whole darned Synod.


And yes, conservatives were in a lather. Many howled, many vented. But the aforementioned Tschugguel thought to channel his outrage into some old-fashioned direct action. Returning to Rome after having endured a bit of the three-week Synod’s opening stunts, accompanied by some sidekicks he revisited Santa Maria in Traspontina on October 21st. As soon as the church doors opened, having prayed a Rosary, they entered, grabbed a number of Pachamama statues, headed over to the Tiber, and from the Ponte Sant’Angelo tossed them into the drink.

Why? In his come-clean video, Tschugguel held their display to be an obvious violation of the First Commandment. Need a quick refresher? from the King James Bible, Exodus 20:1-3:

And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.

Sounds like the Boy from Vienna was on to something. Anyway, after the pagan-dunking became known, mayhem ensued: The Pope apologized, scapegoated the statues — they were not at the church with “idolatrous intentions,” he spaked — and then reassured the Synodistas that the statues were retrieved, undamaged — which cannot be said for millions of the faithful. Worry not: They were in the care of the Commandant of the Carabinieri, and it was possible, the Pontiff assured assembled reporters, the Pachamamas could even make an appearance at the Synod’s concluding Mass on the 27th.

They didn’t. Why? No explanation was given. But it being a Sunday morning, maybe the fertility goddess had had a long night and was sleeping in.