VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Cindy McCain, executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme and widow of late U.S. Senator John McCain, gave Pope Francis what appeared to be a pagan idol in a private audience last week.
Video published on Thursday by Vatican News shows McCain presenting Francis with the object, which has sparked controversy online.
Pope Francis meets with Ms. Cindy H. McCain, Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and widow of the late US Senator John McCain. pic.twitter.com/3VYhK84hSv
— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) October 5, 2023
Gloria.tv described the idol, which has a black mask and bloody knife, as a kachina doll, a figure that represents evil spirits worshipped by the Native American Hopi people. Some kachinas depict “Yowe” – a Hopi who reportedly killed and beheaded a Franciscan priest.
The Lepanto Institute, however, stated in an X (formerly Twitter) post that the object is “most likely the ogre-woman called Soyoko Mana, not the priest killer.”
“Soyoko Mana,” according to the Timothy S. Y. Lam Museum of Anthropology at Wake Forest University, “carries a knife and crook and has a basket on her back. These items are used to catch her prey, children, and carry them away. Children are expected to provide food for her, and if they don’t, they are told she will eat them instead.”
We’ve been able to confirm that the demon idol Cindy McCain gave to Pope Francis is most likely the ogre-woman called Soyoko Mana, not the priest killer. Soyoko Mana carries a knife and a crook to catch children, whom she eats. The basket of food on her back is what she collects… pic.twitter.com/3g7jDqhQEt
— Lepanto Institute (@LepantoInst) October 9, 2023
McCain can be heard in the Vatican News video saying, “It’s a warrior.”
LifeSiteNews contacted the UN World Food Programme for clarification. This article will be updated with any response.
McCain presented the object to Francis one day after the anniversary of the infamous Pachamama ritual in the Vatican Gardens during the Amazon Synod on October 4, 2019, in which the pope blessed one of the idolatrous South American statues.
In 2010, McCain joined a campaign supporting same-sex “marriage” by having her picture taken for the campaign’s website, which prompted her senator husband to issue a clarifying statement reaffirming his opposition to homosexual “marriage.”
READ: 100 priests, lay scholars call Pope Francis to repent for Pachamama idolatry at Amazon Synod