Day of Reparation for Amazon Synod Idolatry

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DETROIT (ChurchMilitant.com) - Catholics are preparing to offer prayer and fasting in reparation for the idolatry at October's Pan-Amazonian Synod.

Last month, four exorcists anonymously issued a joint statement calling on Catholics to make reparation for the idolatrous worship of Pachamama statues at the Amazon Synod in Rome. They called for a day of prayer and fasting this Friday, Dec. 6.

The exorcists slammed the way the "Mother Earth" fertility goddess statues were trumpeted around at the Synod, saying, "These events bring home the reality that we are in spiritual warfare and that warfare is happening within the Church itself."

Their joint statement went on to say:

We are, therefore, encouraging all Catholics who recognize the evil of the events to join us in a day of prayer and penance on Dec. 6, for the purpose of driving out any diabolic influence within the Church that has been gained as a result of these recent events — along with any other events.

To take part in the day of reparation, faithful are asked to pray the Rosary, engage in some sort of fasting, and recite two prayers to the Sacred Heart of Jesus — an Act of Consecration of the Human Race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and an Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. (See here for the text of those two prayers.)

Father Joseph Illo of Star of the Sea Parish in San Francisco, encouraged people to take part in the prayer and reparation in a Sunday homily on Nov. 24. He said from the pulpit:

Last month, a false god was worshipped in a Vatican ceremony — as the Pope looked on. The Holy Father seemed disturbed, but he did not stop the blasphemy. ... At least one Franciscan priest — as you can see in the videotape — and many others bowed down to this pagan image of a naked, pregnant woman.

Father Illo noted that many people "worship idols" to some degree by placing worldly things over God.

"But what happened in Rome last month," he added, "made it clear than some Church leaders have now publicly submitted to another god rather than Christ."

He informed the people of the day of prayer, saying:

A group of exorcists have asked that Dec. 6 be a day of fasting, prayer and reparation for these sins against the faith and the heart of the Church — the worship of idols, along with the crimes against children and seminarians by their spiritual fathers, by the priests and bishops of the Church.

"These terrible black spots on the spotless Bride of Christ," Fr. Illo continued, "manifest the presence of the demonic within the Church."

Citing Jesus' words in Scripture, Fr. Illo observed that "some demons, Jesus declares, can only be cast out by prayer and fasting."

He further said, "I urge you to offer more intense prayer and fasting on the first Friday of December in atonement."

Since Dec. 6 is the first Friday of the month, this day of prayer and fasting coincides with the First Fridays Devotion to the Sacred Heart.

To practice that devotion, one attends Mass and receives Holy Communion on the first Friday of the month for nine consecutive months. The devotion dates back to 1673, when Our Lord appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a French nun, in a series of visions. In those visions, Jesus explained the First Fridays Devotion to her, and enumerated twelve promises to those who are devoted to His Sacred Heart.

The prominence of the Pachamama statuettes at the Amazon Synod outraged many Catholics, who felt that it reeked of pagan idolatry. Multiple people prostrated before a Pachamama statue during a tree-planting ceremony to open the Synod; a Pachamama statue featured prominently during an Amazonian-themed version of the Stations of the Cross; a Pachamama statue was present in the synod hall; and there were at least fives statues at side altars inside the Church of Santa Maria del Traspontina.

Amid concerns of idolatry, paganism and sacrilege, one group of laymen surreptitiously took five Pachamama statuettes out of Santa Maria del Traspontina and dropped them into the Tiber River.

While some laity heralded the Pachamamas' disposal as a justified response, Vatican officials spoke of pressing charges for theft.

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