Argentinian Diocese Penned Prayer to Pachamama, An Idol Traditionally Worshipped With Child Sacrifice
In a new irreverent “prayer,” the Argentinian diocese of Venado Tuerto’s charitable arm prayed to Pachamama, a pagan fertility/earth goddess traditionally worshipped with child sacrifice; the “prayer” identifies this idol with the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The “prayer” (which coincided with a local religious ceremony honoring Pachamama and which was removed from the internet after Catholic outcry), “Oracion a la Pachamama (prayer to Pachamama),” deliberately warps both the Hail Mary and Our Father. In the Our Father, God is identified as the source of “daily bread.” In this “prayer,” Pachamama’s “womb” is called the source of daily bread. The prayer also asks that Pachamama be “venerada,” which translates as “revered” or “adored.” Of course only God can be given adoration. . .it is blasphemous to adore another. At the very least, this word is open to misinterpretation.
But even more, this is a re-writing of the Hail Mary—whereas the latter says “Blessed be the fruit of your womb, Jesus,” this new version says “Blessed are the fruits of your womb, our daily bread.” Jesus has been removed. Calling Pachamama “Holy Mother,” the “prayer” then refers to humans derogatorily as a “pack of dogs” and adds, “My land is prey to madness.” Pachamama is called the “source of life and joy.” Now Christ is the source of life, and the Blessed Virgin (who of course is not Pachamama) can only be called a source of life as being the chosen mediatrix of spiritual life given through Christ. But this “prayer” is to an earth goddess, and seems fully focused on the material, so calling Pachamama a “source of life” is seriously concerning.
At the end, the writers tried to make the prayer Catholic by identifying Pachamama with the Blessed Virgin, as Pope Francis previously did. Firstly, it is one thing to apply local cultural symbolism to Mary (as in Our Lady of Guadalupe), and another thing to say that a half-naked fertility goddess is in fact one and the same with Mary, which is sacrilegious. Secondly, the earth—or land—is not a sentient being, and it is certainly sacrilegious to claim that the Virgin Mary is one and the same with the earth itself. Yet this is exactly what the “prayer” does. At its end it has a series of what are clearly meant to be parallel titles of the same person, “Pachamama, holy land, Holy Mother, Virgin Mary.” It also refers to those “destroying” this earth goddess earlier in the “prayer,” with a material connotation.
Mary is only “holy land” in the figurative sense. She is neither the same as the physical earth nor as the pagan goddess Pachamama. Pachamama was worshipped with human sacrifice, including child sacrifice. Claiming this idol is the same as Our Lady is thoroughly wicked. Here is the “Catholic prayer” to this pagan idol:
“God bless you, Pachamama, sweet source of our life, be forever adored. Blessed are the fruits of your womb, our daily bread, blessed are you today and forever. Look with compassion, Holy Mother, upon the human pack of dogs that destroys you through ambition. Blessed be your clemency, Pachamama. My land is prey to madness. You are the source of life and joy. Pachamama, holy land, Holy Mother, Virgin Mary.”
But how can we be surprised at this sacrilege? Pope Francis processed the idol Pachamama before the altar of St. Peter’s Basilica. The idol for whom humans, including children, were once ritually slaughtered is now being prayed to by “Catholics.” This horror must stop.