One of the men who threw the nude and pregnant female Amazon Synod statues into the Tiber River last month came forward this morning in a video posted to YouTube.
ChurchPOP previously covered the Oct. 21 story of what appears to be two people throwing the controversial statues into the river.
EWTN News Nightly, as well as Catholic theologian Taylor Marshall, conducted interviews asking 26-year-old Alexander Tschugguel of Vienna, Austria why he threw several Pachamama statues into the Tiber River.
Tschugguel remained anonymous until today.
Tschugguel told EWTN News Nightly that the Pachamama statues violate the First Commandment.
“I did it because when I was at the Synod attending a few conferences in Rome, I was in Santa Maria in Traspontina and talked to a few of those volunteers there,” Tschugguel begins.
“When I asked them about the statues, they told me they were statues which represent fertility, or Mother Earth…There were these rituals taking place in the Vatican gardens. I was really shocked, and I thought, ‘those statues clearly go against the First Commandment.’
“So I decided, two weeks later, in a very short moment to do that. I booked a flight to Rome and slept there for a few hours. In the morning, I went to the Church, did it, and flew back to Vienna.”
Listen to the clip below:
Click here if you cannot see the video above.
In a lengthy interview with Taylor Marshall, Tschugguel explains that “we did it mainly because we did not want idols to be in the Catholic Church.”
He also tells his conversion story from Lutheranism to Catholicism, and “the crisis in the Catholic Church facing Austria and Europe.”
Tschugguel added that he believes “the statues were a sign of everything that is not Catholic going on in the Synod.”
Listen to Taylor Marshall’s full interview below:
Click here if you cannot see the video above.
Pope Francis recently issued an apology after Tschugguel threw the statues into the Tiber river. He also said the statues were recovered undamaged from the river.
“As bishop of this diocese,” Pope Francis said, “I ask forgiveness from those who have been offended by this gesture.”
Pope Francis also said the Synod used the Pachamama statues “without idolatrous intentions.”
[See also: People Remove Controversial Amazon Statues from Church & Throw Them Into Tiber River]
[See also: Pope Francis Asks Forgiveness For “Pachamama” Amazon Statues Being Thrown Into Tiber River