So many people seem to be under the impression that the Vatican practiced some form of Amazonian idolatry, but this is a complete fabrication. Thanks to @poperespecter1 on Twitter BTW for making me realize this, the following is just an in depth explanation of the points he made that I am just spreading - all credit goes to him. This Reddit comment was also helpful. First of all, the Pachamama deity is a deity worshipped by peoples in the Andes, not really the Amazonians. Some inter-Andes-Amazonian communities worship Pachamama but this seems rare, and wouldn't make sense for a meeting representing all Amazonians. And when you actually research what Amazonian pagans believe, you find out that idolatry (at least in the sense of worshipping statues) is not a part of Amazonian religion. Amazonian paganism is a primarily animistic and shamanistic religion which believes that different spirits inhabit trees, rivers, animals, and celestial systems. They also use shamans as a means of supposedly connecting to the "spirit world". These are the main components of Amazonian paganism. There is no evidence that Amazonians at large worship statues. Either way, the Amazonians who visited the Vatican were Catholics. The statues that were brought were made by REPAM, a Catholic organization. They were meant to represent life or Our Lady of the Amazon, but not Pachamama (There is a more in-depth explanation here). Pope Francis did indeed call it Pachamama later when it was stolen by tradcaths, but keep in mind that everyone was by that point and Pope Francis didn't have the time to keep up with whatever online drama was going on or whatever, so it's not like you can blame him for getting a detail wrong. In short, it was a giant misunderstanding fueled by pope haters and used to further demonize the church. Spreading this misinformation is possibly stopping people from having salvation and is thus a grave matter.