On August 25, Francis turned remotely to about 400 young Russian Catholics who gathered in St. Catherine's Basilica in St. Petersburg. He first read the message prepared earlier in Spanish. He said: “Be the seed of reconciliation and of peace. Be seed growers of tiny seeds, which this winter war will not yet sprout in frozen land, but bloom in future spring."
“Children of large Russia”
Then, spontaneously, he added in Italian: “Never forget your inheritance. You are children of large Russia; large Russia of saints, large Russia of Peter I, Catherine II, this large empire, of specified large culture and large humanity. Never quit this legacy. You are the heirs of parent Russia, go with her.”
This peculiar message was welcomed by the Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitri Doskov“ The Pope knows Russian past and very well. She is indeed deep, she has deep roots.”
Francis in the past was accused of not condemning Russian aggression against Ukraine in sufficiently harsh words. The Vatican is trying to keep its position in a neutral manner to mediate between Kiev and Moscow. So far, mildly speaking, he has achieved little. any commentators compose that Francis, as a clergyman from Argentina, does not realize Central and east Europe and idealizes Russia.
Pope Francis I at a gathering with Russian youth:
"You are the heirs of large Russia. Holy rulers, large Russia Peter I, Catherine II, this enlightened empire of large culture. Never quit the legacy of parent Russia."
A very sick man. pic.twitter.com/u9WuWBlT98
— #Anticommunism (@Libertarian_) August 27, 2023
Crimes of the Past
However, the pope’s message can be considered as peculiar, even shocking. Tsar Peter I, to whom Putin likes to compare himself, was a lovable executioner, cruel sadist who ordered to torment his own boy to death. In 1705 Peter I murdered Greek Catholic basilians, in the Republic of Poland. The drunken Tsar entered with the soldiers into the Cathedral of Divine Wisdom and demanded of the chief of the cloister of keys from the Tabernaculum, and erstwhile he refused, he had himself murdered the Prior by hand; 4 basilians ordered to drown the Sound in the streams. In 1708 Peter's troops carried out a horrific massacre in the city of Baturyn, Ukraine, which was the residence of Cossack captains. Over 11,000 men, women, and children died.
Cynical and debauchery Catherine II drowned the Pugaczów rebellion in blood, eliminated the Zaporosian Kozaland, captured Crimea and became a murderer of the Catholic Republic.
Mother Russia
No wonder Francis was in the heat of criticism. The independent Belarusian portal Nexta noted that Catholics of Poland, Lithuania and Belarus had 3 times broken up to emergence against the “enlightened empire” of Russia. Ombudsman for the Ukrainian MFA Oleh Nikolaenko stressed that specified imperialist propaganda, “spiritual prisons” and the request to rescue “the parent of Russia” The Kremlin justifies the killing of thousands of Ukrainians and Ukrainians, the demolition of hundreds of Ukrainian cities and villages. "It is very sad that the great-powerful Russian ideas, which are the origin of Russia's constant aggression, are consciously or unconsciously sounding out of the Pope's mouth," Nikolaenko lamented.
Światosław Szewczuk, bishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, head of the Catholic Church of the Byzantine-Ukrainian rite, stated that the pope's words caused large pain and concern, and expressed concern that they could become an inspiration for the "neocolonial ambitions of the country of aggressor". He besides asked the Vatican to explain.
29 August manager of the Press Office of the Holy See Matteo Bruni "In improvised words of greetings to young Russian Catholics a fewer days ago, as it is clear from the context in which he expressed them, the Pope intended to encourage young people to preserve and advance what is affirmative in the large Russian cultural and spiritual heritage, and surely not to glorify imperialist logic and ruling personalities."
🇻🇦🇲🇳 Pope Francis praises another imperialism and another enemy of Poland. This time he delights with Genghis-Chan and Mongolian imperialism. possibly it is worth considering inviting Nuncio to the Ministry of abroad Affairs to present the Polish point of view?
"Moreover, I come to Mongolia at an crucial time... pic.twitter.com/YVeLLJ5ZUV
== sync, corrected by elderman == September 3, 2023
