2023-08-30 11:58:00
Ukraine describes Pope Francis’ speech to Russian youth as “imperialist propaganda”
Pope Francis leads the Angelus prayer from his window in the Vatican, on Sunday, August 27, 2023. (Credit: Vatican Media/Archyde.com)
Ukrainian officials criticized Pope Francis’ speech to young Russians, calling it “imperialist propaganda.”
The pontiff delivered a video address to the 10th All-Russian Catholic Youth Assembly in St. Petersburg on Friday, during which he urged them to see themselves as descendants of the Russian empire.
“Never forget your heritage. They are descendants of the great Russia: the great Russia of the saints, of the rulers, the great Russia of Peter I, Catherine II, that educated empire, of great culture and great humanity. Never give up this inheritance,” the Pope said.
“You are descendants of the great Mother Russia, take a step forward with her. And thank you, thank you for your way of being, for your way of being Russian”.
The spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Oleh Nikolenko, described on Monday the speech of Pope Francis as “imperialist propaganda”.
“This is the kind of imperialist propaganda, ‘spiritual ties’ and the ‘need’ to save ‘Great Mother Russia’ that the Kremlin uses to justify the murder of thousands of Ukrainians and the destruction of hundreds of Ukrainian cities and towns.” Nikolenko said in a Facebook post.
The pope’s mission should be “precisely to open the eyes of Russian youth to the devastating course of the current Russian leadership” and instead he is promoting “ideas of the great Russian powers, which are, in fact, the reason for Russia’s chronic aggression ”, Nikolenko said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin compared himself to Peter the Great last year during an exhibition dedicated to Russia’s first emperor, using the comparison to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said in a statement that Peter the Great and Catherine the Great are the “worst examples of extreme Russian imperialism and nationalism,” warning that Pope Francis’ words “might be perceived as supporting to the nationalism and imperialism that caused the war in Ukraine today”.
“As a Church, we want to affirm that in the context of Russia’s aggression once morest Ukraine, such statements inspire the neocolonial ambitions of the aggressor country,” Shevchuk said.
The Vatican on Tuesday rejected the interpretation of Pope Francis’ words as praise for imperialism.
“The pope wanted to encourage young people to preserve and promote all that is positive in the great cultural and Russian spirituality, and certainly not to exalt the imperialist logic and government personalities, cited to indicate some reference historical periods,” the Vatican statement said. .
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