“Never give up this legacy, you are the heirs of the great Mother Russia, go forward with it,” Pope Francis told young Russians gathered for the All-Russian Meeting of Catholic Youth in St. Petersburg on Friday.
During the speech, a clip of which was posted online, the pope also invoked former Russian emperors Peter I and Catherine II, two rulers who played key roles in expanding Russia’s conquests in Europe, and who are known as symbols of Russian imperialism.
“You are the heirs of the great Russia: the great Russia of saints, of kings, the great Russia of Peter the Great, of Catherine II, of that great, enlightened Russian empire, of great culture and great humanity,” he said.
The comments have sparked outrage online, with many criticizing the pope’s decision to praise Russia’s imperialist past, especially considering the Kremlin’s ongoing war in Ukraine.
“It is with such imperialist propaganda, ‘spiritual scraps’ and the ‘need’ to save ‘the great Mother Russia’ that the Kremlin justifies the murders of thousands of Ukrainian men and women and the destruction of hundreds of Ukrainian towns and villages,” Oleg Nikolenko, Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said in a statement on Facebook Monday.
“It is very unfortunate that Russian great-power ideas, which are actually the cause of Russia’s chronic aggressiveness, knowingly or unknowingly, sound from the lips of the Pope, whose mission, in our understanding, is precisely to open the eyes of Russian youth to a destructive course the current Russian leadership.”
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church also condemned the pope’s words and demanded an explanation from him.
“The examples given by the Holy Father actually contradict his teachings on peace, since he has always condemned any form of manifestation of imperialism in the modern world and warned of the dangers of extreme nationalism, stressing that it is the cause of the ‘third world war in segments,'” Chairman of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Svyatoslav Shevchuk said in a statement.
However, in the rest of his speech, posted online by the Vatican, the pope tells Russian youth to be “artisans of peace” and to “sow seeds of reconciliations.”
The Vatican’s embassy in Kyiv released a statement late on Monday, denying that the pope “encouraged young Russian Catholics to draw inspiration from historical Russian figures known for imperialistic and expansionist ideas and actions … Pope Francis has never endorsed imperialistic notions,” it said in the press release. “On the contrary, he is a staunch opponent and critic of any form of imperialism or colonialism across all peoples and situations.”
The Vatican also commented on the pope’s remarks, saying he “intended to encourage young people to preserve and promote what is positive in Russia’s great cultural and spiritual heritage, and certainly not to glorify imperialistic logics and governmental personalities.”
Pope Francis has repeatedly criticized the Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling for an end to the conflict. But has also made some controversial remarks, seemingly blaming NATO for the conflict, and has refused to denounce Putin by name.
This article has been updated to include responses from the Ukrainian government, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the Vatican and the Vatican embassy in Kyiv.
No comments:
Post a Comment