Pope Francis at the Vatican on Sunday. Credit: Andrew Medichini/Associated Press
In a video comment that Pope Francis addressed to Catholic youth in St. Petersburg, Russia on Friday, he praised 18th-century Russian rulers and the great Russia they created — an empire President Vladimir looked to V. Putin invoked in planning his invasion of Ukraine.
“Never forget the legacy,” said Francis. “You are the heirs of Great Russia: Great Russia of the saints, rulers, Great Russia of Peter I, Catherine II, this empire – great, enlightened, of great culture and great humanity.”
According to Portal, the pope, who was just finishing his address at the conclusion of a conference aimed at the young members of the Church in St. Petersburg, had switched from his prepared remarks in Spanish to an invitation to the audience in Italian, the story in the back of his mind to keep. The Vatican released only the prepared remarks, but a clip later circulated by religious organizations showed him making the additional remarks.
While Pope Francis has consistently championed peace and Ukrainians over the past year, whom he has dubbed “martyrs” in their fight against invading Russian forces, his comments have caught fire in Ukraine and other countries close to Russia that were formerly part of the Soviet Union , quick on criticism .
“It is very unfortunate that Russian big-state ideas, which are in fact knowingly or unknowingly the cause of Russia’s chronic aggression, coming out of the mouth of the Pope,” Oleg Nikolenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s foreign ministry, wrote on Facebook.
Former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves wrote on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, that the statements were true “Really disgusting.”
And the head of Ukraine’s Greek Catholic Church, Svyatoslav Shevchuk, issued a statement noting the “pain” and “disappointment” caused by the pope’s comments and calling on the Holy See to Clarify statements made by Francis to prevent “any manipulation of intentions”. Context and statements assigned to the Holy Father.”
Mr Putin – who compared himself to Peter the Great last year – has over the past 18 months used the idea of rebuilding the Russian Empire as a framework for invading Ukraine, which was a Soviet state until 1991 when the Soviet Union dissolved. He has also portrayed the invasion as an attempt to “put an end to the war the West has unleashed,” as he put it last week.
The pope’s prepared speech, published in a Vatican bulletin that made no mention of his closing statements, centered on the importance of young people building bridges between generations.
“I invite you to be a sower, to sow seeds of reconciliation, tiny seeds that will not germinate for a moment on frozen ground in this winter of war, but will thrive in a future spring,” the Vatican transcript read .
In the first months of the conflict, Francis appeared to avoid picking sides, refraining from openly criticizing the Russian president or the war’s main religious supporter, Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church. In May, after a video conference with Kirill, Francis changed course and warned Kirill against “turning into Putin’s acolytes”.
On Monday, the Vatican issued a statement saying the pope never takes a political stance and that his words “should be understood as a voice rising in defense of human life and the values inherent in it.”
It said the Pope had always condemned a “morally unjust, unacceptable, barbaric, senseless, repugnant and sacrilegious” war.
A Pope’s ambassador for peace, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, traveled to Ukraine, Russia and the United States over the summer to facilitate peace talks.
show more