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Oleg Nikolenko – a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry – said that the pope’s comments, made in a live video address to Catholic youths gathered in St Petersburg, were “imperialistic propaganda”.<\/p>\n
However, Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, has now said the worldwide head of the Catholic Church merely wanted to praise the positive aspects of Russia\u2019s spiritual and cultural history. Pope Francis\u00a0praised Russia\u2019s imperial rulers Peter and Catherine the Great – and told Russian youths that they are the heirs of the “the great imperial Russia” they created.<\/p>\n
Russian President Vladimir Putin has used similar rhetoric to justify the invasion of Ukraine. Nikolenko said: “It is by such imperialistic propaganda, ‘spiritual staples’ and ” the need to rescue ‘the great mother of Russia’ the Kremlin justifies the killing of thousands of Ukrainians and Ukrainian women and the destruction of hundreds of Ukrainian cities and villages.<\/p>\n
Read more… <\/strong> Pope Francis\u2019s fresh bid to return Kyiv children \u2018stolen\u2019 by Russia<\/strong><\/p>\n “It is very unfortunate that Russian grand-state ideas, which, in fact, are the cause of Russia’s chronic aggression, knowingly or unknowingly, come from the Pope’s mouth, whose mission, in our understanding, is precisely to open the eyes of Russian youth to the disastrous course of the current Russian leadership.”<\/p>\n However, in a statement, Bruni said Pope Francis \u201ccertainly didn\u2019t want to exalt imperialistic logic or government personalities, who were cited to indicate certain historic periods of reference”.<\/p>\n In remarks that appeared to be ad-libbed – and that were omitted from official text of the speech published by the Vaticam – the supreme pontiff said: “Never forget your inheritance. You are the heirs of the great Russia. The great Russia of the saints, of the kings, of the great Russia of Peter the Great, of Catherine II, that great imperial Russia, cultivated, with so much culture and humanity.<\/p>\n “Never forget this inheritance. You are the heirs of the great Mother Russia, go forward. And thank you. Thank you for your way of being, for your way of being Russian.\u201d<\/p>\n Don’t miss… <\/strong> Ukraine\u2019s Greek Catholic leader, His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, also complained about the Pope’s comments. He said “the reference to Russia\u2019s imperial leaders \u201crefer to the worst example of Russian imperialism and extreme nationalism\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe fear that those words are understood by some as an encouragement of precisely this nationalism and imperialism, which is the real cause of the war in Ukraine. War that every day brings death and destruction to our people.\u201d<\/p>\n The Pope has also previously appeared to justify Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine by saying that NATO was \u201cbarking at Russia\u2019s gates\u201d with its eastward expansion.<\/p>\n We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info<\/p>\n
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