Spokesman Matteo Bruni said on Tuesday that Francis merely wanted to highlight the positive aspects of Russia’s spiritual and cultural history.
The Vatican has sought to calm the uproar that erupted after Pope Francis praised Russia’s imperialist past during a video conference with Russian Catholics youths
Francis “certainly didn’t want to exalt imperialistic logic or government personalities, who were cited to indicate certain historic periods of reference”, Mr Bruni said in a statement. The Vatican never published the comments, but they were shared on social media following the Pope’s video conference with a Catholic youth encounter in St Petersburg on Friday.“Never forget your inheritance. You are the heirs of the great Russia – the great Russia of the saints, of the kings, of the great Russia of Peter the Great, of Catherine II, that great imperial Russia, cultivated, with so much culture and humanity,” he said, according to the video clip.
He said the reference to Russia’s imperial leaders “refer to the worst example of Russian imperialism and extreme nationalism”.
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