Pachamama in Vatican: Act of Tolerance or Revision of Course?

Abstract

The use of a pagan symbol – figurines of the pagan goddess Pachamama – in religious ceremonies at the Vatican during the Panamason Synod in the late 2019 and the scandal that followed caused conflicting responses from catholics in the Europe and in America. The author supposes that this event evidences the intention of the Catholic Church and Pope Francis personally to renounce a rigid Eurocentrism, to pay more attention to the national churches on the periphery, the autochthonous culture of the peoples of the Amazon river basin equally. In the same time, the Pontiff invited all the European Christians reflect on possible ways and permissible limits of Evangelization, on inculturation of the faith, on the role and mission of the Church in the modern world. Intercultural interaction is stated as the most important direction of the Church's activity. The documents of the Catholic Church communicate that in the era of globalization and mass migrations culture, traditional values, forms and practices of popular piety of Europeans and non-Europeans, Christians and people which profess other religions are necessary conditions for inculturation. This principle was approved by the Second Vatican Council. This is why the hierarchs of the Catholic Church encourage all the Christians to treat pagan statuettes of Pachamama as cultural symbols.

Keywords

• the catholic church
• the vatican
• evangelization
• italy
• pope francis
• pachama- ma
• amazonia
• inculturation of the faith
• idolatry