The composer of operas, Richard Wagner, drew heavily from Norse mythology for some of his operas. For others, he drew on folk tales and medieval legends. Such a use of these sources does not imply belief in the Norse gods and goddesses, which would be idolatry. Nor does it imply belief in the folk tales and legends also used in his work. Never did Wagner state or suggest that people should worship the Norse gods. And never did Pope Francis state or suggest that anyone should worship any god, goddess, or idol from any religion, other than the one true God, the Trinity.
The use of the Pachamama symbol in very few ceremonies by Pope Francis was representative of the region of the Amazon and their respect for mother earth. And there is nothing idolatrous in calling the earth “mother”, nor in using a mother type symbol for the earth. Consider the Canticle of Saint Francis of Assisi:
“Most High, all-powerful, all-good Lord, All praise is Yours, all glory, all honour and all blessings. To you alone, Most High, do they belong, and no mortal lips are worthy to pronounce Your Name.
“Praised be You my Lord with all Your creatures, especially Sir Brother Sun,
Who is the day through whom You give us light.
And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendor,
Of You Most High, he bears the likeness.
“Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,
In the heavens you have made them bright, precious and fair.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air,
And fair and stormy, all weather’s moods,
by which You cherish all that You have made.
“Praised be You my Lord through Sister Water,
So useful, humble, precious and pure.
Praised be You my Lord through Brother Fire,
through whom You light the night and he is
beautiful and playful and robust and strong.
“Praised be You my Lord through our Sister, Mother Earth
who sustains and governs us,
producing varied fruits with colored flowers and herbs.
Praise be You my Lord through those who grant pardon
for love of You and bear sickness and trial.
“Blessed are those who endure in peace, By You Most High, they will be crowned.
Praised be You, my Lord through Sister Death,
from whom no-one living can escape. Woe to those who die in mortal sin!
Blessed are they She finds doing Your Will.
“No second death can do them harm.
Praise and bless my Lord and give Him thanks,
And serve Him with great humility.”
Pope Francis is not the first Pope to speak about the Pachamama. Pope Saint John Paul II spoke about it in a homily in 1988. Much of what I will say on this particular point is from an article by Francisco Figueroa (published by him on my blog). [Francisco Figueroa, “What do our Holy Fathers teach about the Pachamama?” 11 December 2019]
When John Paul II made an apostolic visit to South America, visiting several nations, he stopped in Bolivia, in the Valley of Cochabamba, and gave a homily which spoke about the Pachamama. Here is Francisco’s translation of that homily from the original Spanish:
Pope Saint John Paul II: “Blessed is he who, in any work, seeks God from the heart. Blessed is he who, in the exercise of any profession, seeks the good of others.
“I want to address now, from this land of Cochabamba, peasant par excellence, to you, Quechua peasants, men of the “bronze lineage”, who from time immemorial populate these valleys and are at the roots of Bolivian nationality; that you have given to the world your nutritional and medicinal findings such as potatoes, corn and quinoa. The Lord continues to accompany your work with His help. He takes care of the birds of the sky, of the lilies that are born in the field, of the grass that sprouts from the earth (Mt 6, 26-30). This is the work of God, who knows that we need the food that the earth produces, that varied and expressive reality that your ancestors called the ‘Pachamama’ and that reflects the work of divine Providence by offering us His gifts for the good of man.
“Such is the deep meaning of the presence of God that you must find in your relationship with the earth, which covers for you the territory, the water, the stream, the hill, the hillside, the creek, the animals, the plants and the trees , because earth is all the work of creation that God has given us. Therefore, when contemplating the earth, the crops that grow, the plants that mature and the animals that are born, raise your thoughts to the God of the heights, the creator God of the universe, who has manifested to us in Christ Jesus, our Brother and Savior. That way you can reach Him, glorify Him and thank Him. ‘Because the invisible of God, since the creation of the world, [His] intelligence is revealed through his works’ (Rm 1:20).”
According to Pope Saint John Paul II, the Pachamama is symbolic of the goods of the earth, which is “the work of creation that God has given us.” Therefore, the symbol, viewed in this manner, is not an idol.
Of course, anything can become an idol: fame, money, power, sex, the internet, modern technology, animals, plants, the earth itself, etc. Even all creation can be an idol, in the sense that the grave error of pantheism, which confuses creation with the Creator, is idolatry. Yet all that God created is good.
If anyone in the Amazon region treats the Pachamama as an idol, that is a grave error on their part. But it is clear that Pope Francis and Pope Saint John Paul II did not treat the symbol in that manner. And as discussed earlier in this chapter, Pope Francis specifically instructed the faithful not to view the Pachamama as an idol:
“It is possible to take up an indigenous symbol in some way, without necessarily considering it as idolatry. A myth charged with spiritual meaning can be used to advantage and not always considered a pagan error.”
The Pachamama is an indigenous symbol, and should not be considered a type of idolatry by the Christian faithful. At no time did Pope Francis treat the symbol as an idol. Some complained that the symbol was present in a sanctuary for Mass. But any parish church will have a myriad of different symbols: Saints, pictures of past priests who served the parish, pictures of the Pope and Bishop, plaques of donors who funded different stained glass windows, and sometimes seasonal symbols, such as fall or spring decorations. The Christmas trees and seasonal decorations; Easter symbols (as silly as some may be); Halloween decorations and customs are all examples of symbols with at least questionable origins, used by Christians without any trace of idolatry. So it is quote perplexing that Pope Francis would be accused of idolatry over the Pachamama symbol of the earth and its good things.
Regardless of whether the Pachamama is used on a local folk religion or in some type of indigenous mythology, its use by Pope Francis is not idolatrous. There was no worship of the Pachamama figure. Some commentators considered the figure to be applicable to the Blessed Virgin Mary, rather than to mother earth. She is rightly considered to be the Mother of all humanity, through Christ, the Savior of all humanity. For she takes a motherly role towards us all. Thus, it could be the case that the indigenous peoples of the Amazon, being evangelized to Christianity, might begin to see in the Pachamama symbol the Blessed Virgin Mary as their own mother, and her Son as their Savior.
It must also be pointed out that the Catholic Christian religion has taken many of its symbols from pagan religions, especially the religion of pagan Rome: candles, incense, vestments, the terms Pontifex and Pontifex Maximus (hence “Pontiff”), altars, feast days, all predate Christianity. As for these elements in Judaism, many were also found in the ancient pagan religions, which predate even Judaism.
Why is Pope Francis accused over this symbol of the Pachamama? I will be blunt. The papal accusers are always seeking some way to attack the Roman Pontiff, over anything he says or does because they are idolaters. They worship a certain culture, which is alternately the conservative or the traditionalist Catholic subculture. What their preferred subculture teaches, they accept as dogma — even on medicine, politics, society, and any other topic. But regarding the gathering of the Roman Pontiff with the body of Bishops at Vatican II, they say: “Pastoral! Non-infallible!” And they refuse to accept the teachings and decisions of discipline. They have rejected Vatican I, calling it “ultramontanism” for acknowledging the ancient and constant teaching of the Church on the supreme authority of the Roman Pontiff. They reject this teaching because Pope Francis is liberal, and they worship a culture which is conservative or traditionalist. And that worship of conservatism or of traditionalism is literal manifest idolatry. A subculture is not divine. What the culture teaches — whether modern secular culture or a subculture among Catholics — is not the divine Word of God. So while Pope Francis uses an indigenous symbol in a way that is consistent with the use of symbols taken by the Church from many different sources, they give idolatrous worship to a subculture, in place of Christ.
Acts of the Apostles
{17:22} But Paul, standing in the middle of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are rather superstitious.
{17:23} For as I was passing by and noticing your idols, I also found an altar, on which was written: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this is what I am preaching to you:
{17:24} the God who made the world and all that is in it, the One who is the Lord of heaven and earth, who does not live in temples made with hands.
{17:25} Neither is he served by the hands of men, as if in need of anything, since it is he who gives to all things life and breath and all else.
{17:26} And he has made, out of one, every family of man: to live upon the face of the entire earth, determining the appointed seasons and the limits of their habitation,
{17:27} so as to seek God, if perhaps they may consider him or find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
{17:28} ‘For in him we live, and move, and exist.’ Just as some of your own poets have said. ‘For we are also of his family.’
{17:29} Therefore, since we are of the family of God, we must not consider gold or silver or precious stones, or the engravings of art and of the imagination of man, to be a representation of what is Divine.
Notice that the pagan religion of Athens included an altar, “to the unknown God”. And Paul states that they were worshipping, though in ignorance, this God, whom Paul (and Scripture) states is the one true God, the Creator of all. See how a pagan element can contain religious truth. Similarly, those who revere the Pachamama, as a figure of mother earth, may be revering, in ignorance, the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Then Paul quotes poets from among the pagans of Athens, on the topic of religion. And Paul, in Sacred Scripture, states that these pagan poets were correct. These expressions from pagan poets are not part of the divine Word of God. Then Paul states that we must not worship idols, which is certainly true and is part of the First Commandment: to worship the one true God, and not to have false gods (i.e. idols). Therefore, it is clear from Sacred Scripture that elements from paganism and then also, by extension, from non-religious elements of indigenous culture (e.g. a symbol of mother earth) can certainly be adapted to the one true Church and the sole Ark of Salvation.
Ronald L Conte Jr
the reproach of Christ 
What a powerful trove of clarifying and correcting information!
Also, this subculture, while seeing themselves as much stronger in the faith than the “Novus Ordo church”, ironically manifest that theirs is actually of a weaker nature and is brittle within the course of ongoing events because it is not standing on bedrock.
Thank you very much, Mr. Conte.
Something about the most significant words we use as of our final destination and reward for our Christian life and our response to the Divine grace…Heaven and Hell…are they Christian words? Actually, no, their origin is Pagan!
The word “Hell” comes from the Norse mythology, one of the 9 Norse worlds is “Hell-heim” where the souls of the disgraced departed go, the same meaning we put in the word Hell.
More info from wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell
The modern English word hell is derived from Old English hel, helle (first attested around 725 AD to refer to a nether world of the dead) reaching into the Anglo-Saxon pagan period.[1] The word has cognates in all branches of the Germanic languages, including Old Norse hel (which refers to both a location and goddess-like being in Norse mythology), Old Frisian helle, Old Saxon hellia, Old High German hella, and Gothic halja. All forms ultimately derive from the reconstructed Proto-Germanic feminine noun *xaljō or *haljō (‘concealed place, the underworld’). In turn, the Proto-Germanic form derives from the o-grade form of the Proto-Indo-European root *kel-, *kol-: ‘to cover, conceal, save’.[2] Indo-European cognates include Latin cēlāre (“to hide”, related to the English word cellar) and early Irish ceilid (“hides”). Upon the Christianisation of the Germanic peoples, extensions of the Proto-Germanic *xaljō were reinterpreted to denote the underworld in Christian mythology[1][3] (see Gehenna).
Before discussing the word Heaven, I will put the days of the week, I think it is important to realize how much of our everyday culture is based on pagan meaning, that later was adopted in the Christendom. The so called “gods” in the pagan history and mythology, we’d better use the word “hero” instead because what reached us through thousands years historical records are descriptions of heroic extraordinary actions of certain people who were hailed and preserved in historical memory, long before the long lists of kings that were not always so heroic or good. And that corresponds to our own ancient historical records if we care about them. But which ones are our own history records depending on our nation? If we are English descendants that goes ultimately to the proto Germanic ancient history, if we are Spanish that goes to the Roman history, if we are Slavic – to proto Slavic history that today’s scientific consensus accepts to be originated by Vikings or Varangians/Varyags. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rus'_people
Each modern European nation that was Christianized in some century (4-10 for Europe, later for Latin America) will see its first records being pagan.
It would take more time and go much farther to discuss the other non-European nations who had only limited groups of people who accepted Christianity at a certain point of their history, and for which nations there might be a conflict between the Christian traditions (already European established traditions) and their own national traditions. The example goes for China and its “pagan” celebration of the deceased relatives that was ill-understood by the first missionaries there as “idol worship” and that repulsed the majority of the Chinese people from Christianity. While later it was accepted by the Church as a commemoration service to the deceased loved ones that we all do in the Christian world. Such conflict, that unfoirtunately stopped the Christianization of BILLIONS of people, apparently did not exist in the already established European Christian nations, although it might have existed in their early years after Baptism. Seems to me, in relation to the Norse mythology, such conflict was virtually non-existent.
A pagan nation from the time of the Old Testament reading the books of the Bible without having the same grace of belief the old Jews had, would call Enoch and Elijah “gods”- they didn’t die, they were taken up in heaven by a fiery carriage, they could make miracles including bringing fire down to earth and killing their enemies with forces far superior than the bows and arrows, they could heal and resurrect (recorded for Elijah), they would fulfill all pagan requirements of being called “gods” while they were in fact humans. Remember that St Paul and Barnabas were actually called “gods” with names of the Greek mythology when they preached.
Similar reasoning could be said for the Norse, Greek, Roman “gods”, who most likely had some initial origin of mighty heroes and as result were called “gods” by primitive societies who did not have the Divine revelations that only the Jewish nation had at that time. Their origin is not fully known to us, as we don’t know the pre-Flood history of Atlantis and the other nations around the world, that is just mentioned in the oldest Greek records to exist but nothing more than that. The existing megalithic structures throughout the world dating back before the Flood speak of the extend of those civilizations. We cannot deny those facts. The worst we could do is to demonize every existing monument from that time. Because demonizing the mega structures calls to mind the Absence of action on behalf of the Angelic forces at the same historic time. I.e. we are trapped in a kind of Manichean magic circle that St Augustine struggled against a good part of his own life towards God. The devil is not so powerful as to build megaliths all over the world while the angels did nothing similar at the same time. Instead, we’d rather notice God’s wisdom and hidden call to all nations led through history to finally recognize His Son at the appointed time that varies for each of them. That doesn’t mean we have to serve their myths or traditions, or idols. We have to understand that the Divine Grace and knowledge of God’s Only Son has been given GRADUALLY in History to different tribes. How otherwise would we interpret the words of Apostle Paul who clearly stated that the Spirit forbade him to travel in certain regions and led him instead to the Greek lands?
Days of the Week
In the Germanic languages that ultimately come from the proto Germanic and the old Norse, Monday is the day of the Moon, Tuesday is the day of the Norse hero Tyr, Wednesday of Odin, Thursday of Thor, Friday of Freda the wife of Odin, Saturday of Saturn it is not from the Norse mythology I think, and Sunday in many languages is the day of the Sun. In the Christianized world the Sun speaks of Jesus Christ and His Resurrection, and the Moon of Virgin Mary. I really wonder why the other days of the week were NOT CHANGED during the Christendom. Because they were using pagan names also in the Latin languages that were Christianized long before the Germanic peoples. Notice that the planets themselves are named after “gods” heroes. So in the Latin languages Monday is again dedicated to the Moon, Tuesday goes to Mars – Martedi in Italian, the “god” of war as we know, Wednesday to Mercury – Mercoledi, Thursday to Jupiter not only the planet but the chief Roman “god” same to Zeus in Greek, in Italian it is Giove – Giovedi, Friday to Venus that is also a “goddess” -Venerdi, Sabato and Domenica are not derived from mythology – the Jewish Sabbath and the Lord’s day. The other Roman languages have similar variations. One has to wonder how the holy popes who could change the Julian’s pagan calendar and invent new music, did not change the days of the week? Maybe because they had to change the names of the planets as well, or for other reasons? Whatever the reason is, the fact is that so many saints popes who could change the name of the week easier than winning a battle against pagan invaders, chose to not do it for so many centuries. Notice also that the Christendom Europe was ultimately controlled by the pope, with all kings and princes being Catholic (before the reformation) and obeying the popes to a great extend.
Let alone the deeply rooted Christian/Catholic practice of burning candles, having Christmas tree and Easter eggs that all come from pagan sources. They have been consecrated already. Nobody questions that.
About the word Heaven in English from wiktionary https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/heaven
From a wide variety of Middle English forms including hevene, heven, hevin and hewin (“heaven, sky”), from Old English heofon, heofone (“heaven, sky”), from Proto-West Germanic *hebn (“heaven, sky”), of uncertain origin.[1]
Cognate with Scots heiven, hewin (“heaven, sky”), Middle Dutch heven (“sky, heaven”), Low German Heven (“heaven, sky”), Middle High German heben (“sky, heaven”), and possibly the rare Icelandic and Old Norse hifinn (“heaven, sky”), which are all probably dissimilated forms of the Germanic root which appears in Old Norse himinn (“heaven, sky”), Gothic 𐌷𐌹𐌼𐌹𐌽𐍃 (himins, “heaven, sky”), Old Swedish himin, Old Danish himæn and probably also (in another variant form) Old Saxon himil, Old Dutch himil (modern Dutch hemel) and Old High German himil (German Himmel).
We see that both the words of Heaven and Hell come from the pagan Norse language and mythology. Shall we sleep quiet now, knowing that the pagan nations our predecessors had the same meaning in the proto languages, and most probably the same hope to go to Heaven and to avoid Hell at all cost, DESPITE THEY DIDN’T HAVE THE SAME AMOUNT OF EXTRAORDINARY GRACE WE HAVE TODAY ALMOST 2000 YEARS AFTER THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST? And how do we use that grace? Could it turn at the end that those pagans were if not closer to, then more obedient to, more fervent in their actions and dedication to God who worked the salvation through the history to reach our last era?
Notice that in the Latin/Roman languages there isn’t a word “Heaven”, you use either the word “Sky” in different variations (“Celestial” comes from there), or the word “paradise” that has a Persian origin and mainly is connected to the paradise garden of Eden.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise
The word “paradise” entered English from the French paradis, inherited from the Latin paradisus, from Greek parádeisos (παράδεισος), from an Old Iranian form, from Proto-Iranian*parādaiĵah- “walled enclosure”, whence Old Persian 𐎱𐎼𐎭𐎹𐎭𐎠𐎶 p-r-d-y-d-a-m /paridaidam/, Avestan pairi-daêza-.[4][5] The literal meaning of this Eastern Old Iranian language word is “walled (enclosure)”,[6] from pairi- ‘around’ (cognate with Greek περί, English peri- of identical meaning) and -diz “to make, form (a wall), build” (cognate with Greek τεῖχος ‘wall’).
Dear Ron,
Thank you for this fine article and your other recent ones.
In addition to John Paul II’s reference to Pachamama in Bolivia, there was a similar reference made by him to “Mama Pacha” in a Feb. 3, 1985 homily during a Liturgy of the Word service in Cuzco, Peru:
“La Iglesia, en efecto, acoge las culturas de todos los pueblos. En ellas siempre se encuentran las huellas y semillas del Verbo de Dios. Así vuestros antepasados, al pagar el tributo a la tierra (Mama Pacha), no hacían sino reconocer la bondad de Dios y su presencia benefactora, que les concedía los alimentos por medio del terreno que cultivaban.”
[The Church, in fact, welcomes the cultures of all peoples. In them she always encounters the footprints and the seeds of the Word of God. Thus, your ancestors paid tribute to the earth (Mama Pacha); in this they did nothing but recognize the goodness of God and his beneficent presence, which gave them food by means of the land they cultivated]
I watched the video of the prayer service that took place in the Vatican Gardens on October 4, 2019. The name “Pachamama” was never mentioned. The wooden statue of a pregnant mother was included on a mat with other items that were identified by a Franciscan Friar as “symbols of earth, water, seeds, and martyrs.” Pope Francis referred to the wooden statues thrown into the Tiber River as “Pachamamas” because that is how the Italian Press identified them.
To claim that idolatry took place during the Vatican Gardens prayer service of Oct. 4, 2019 would require a moral analysis according to no. 1750 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, [CCC]. We would need to know a) the object chosen; b) the intention; and c) the circumstances of the action. How, though, could people know that the object chosen was idolatry? How could they know the intention was to worship a pagan goddess? The circumstances were within the context of Catholic prayer service in honor of the Canticle of Creatures of St. Francis of Assisi. To claim that a pagan ceremony of idol worship was deliberately inserted into a Catholic prayer service strikes me as far-fetched. At the very least, it is unproven. Because the idol worship accusation is unproven, it fits the definition of rash judgment as found in nos. 2477-2478 of the CCC. Those who claim there was idolatry should admit they cannot know for sure what was in the mind and hearts of those Catholics from the Amazon who took part in the prayer service on October 4, 2019..