Ukraine fury after Pope praises ‘nice Russia’ and Putin’s heroes

Ukraine has accused Pope Francis of spreading the identical “imperialist propaganda” that the Kremlin ‘makes use of to justify the killing of hundreds of Ukrainians’.

It comes after the worldwide head of the Catholic Church reportedly informed Russian youths to keep in mind that they’re the heirs of the “the great Russian empire” created by tsars reminiscent of Peter the Great. President Vladimir Putin has used comparable rhetoric to justify the invasion of Ukraine.

The Pope seems to have made the feedback in a reside video deal with to Catholic youths gathered in St Petersburg. The supreme pontiff, who was born in Argentina, was studying a ready speech in his native Spanish tongue.

However, because the speech ended, movies shared by spiritual web sites present the pope swap to Italian and ad-lib a brand new ending, which mentioned Russia‘s kids have been the heirs of “the great Russian empire” of the previous. The Vatican launched the textual content of the deal with on Saturday – however didn’t embody the Pope’s final paragraph about “the good mom Russia“.

The movies on-line present the Pope saying: “Don’t neglect (your) heredity. You are heirs of the good Russia – the good Russia of the saints, of kings, the good Russia of Peter the Great, of Catherine II, the good Russian empire, cultured, a lot tradition, a lot humanity. You are the heirs of the good mom Russia. Go ahead.”

The feedback have been condemned by Ukraine. On Facebook, Oleg Nikolenko – a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry – mentioned: “It is by such imperialistic propaganda, ‘religious staples’ and ” the necessity to rescue ‘the good mom of Russia‘ the Kremlin justifies the killing of hundreds of Ukrainians and Ukrainian ladies and the destruction of tons of of Ukrainian cities and villages. 

“It could be very unlucky that Russian grand-state concepts, which, in reality, are the reason for Russia‘s persistent aggression, knowingly or unknowingly, come from the Pope’s mouth, whose mission, in our understanding, is exactly to open the eyes of Russian youth to the disastrous course of the present Russian management.”