The Pope commented on his words about the "greatness of Russia," but did not improve the situation
He claims he was referring to Russian culture, not imperialism
Pope Francis has explained his words about the "greatness of Russia" that outraged Ukraine a week and a half ago and pleased Moscow. The Pope says his wording may have been unfortunate, but he was referring to Russian culture, not Russian imperialism.
Source. This was reported by Reuters.
"I did not mean imperialism [...] Perhaps it was not formulated in the best way, but when I spoke of the great Russia, I meant not so much geography as culture," Pope Francis told reporters on Monday on his way back from a trip to Mongolia.
The Pope explained that those words in his August 25 speech were impromptu, and they came to him because he studied Russian history at school.
"Russian culture is so beautiful, so thorough. It cannot be "canceled" because of political problems. Russia had dark years in the political sense, but its cultural heritage remains," the head of the Roman Catholic Church added.
On August 25, the Pope, speaking in a video to the participants of the All-Russian meeting of Catholic youth, said: "Do not forget that you are the heirs of a great mother Russia, a great country, its history, its saints, its great cultural figures. You are the heirs of a great Russia, so thank you, thank you for the way you know how to be Russian. Keep this heritage alive, cherish it, thank you."
In addition, the pope mentioned Peter the Great and Catherine the Great among the great figures of Russia.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that the pope was reproducing imperialist propaganda.
On August 29, a Vatican spokesman issued an explanation and said the same thing as the pope himself today: that the pontiff was referring to culture, not Russian imperialism.
Background. As a reminder, Lithuania summoned a representative of the Vatican "for a conversation" in connection with the Pope's statements about Russian tsars.
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