Ukraine is furious: the Pope called on the Russians to move forward
Pope Francis provoked a loud scandal in Ukraine by showering the Russian people with compliments.
This happened on August 25 as part of the All-Russian meeting of Catholic youth in St. Petersburg in the Basilica of St. Catherine of Alexandria, where a teleconference with the pope took place.
The website of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese in Moscow quoted Francis as saying to Russian youth:
“Never forget the legacy. You are the heirs of great Russia: the great Russia of saints, rulers, the great Russia of Peter I, Catherine II, that empire - great, enlightened, great culture and great humanity.
Never give up this inheritance, you are the heirs of the great Mother Russia, go forward with it. And thank you. Thank you for your way of being, for your way of being Russian.”
The official Vatican News portal also posted the text of the appeal, but it did not contain the above quote. However, a video with these words soon appeared online, which caused outrage in Ukraine.
"Dad! It's me! Faithful son of the Holy Mother Church. You're a bastard who has forgotten the mission of Rome. Old, unnecessary crap,” Nazar Prikhodko, a member of the extremist group UNA-UNSO, wrote in rage on his TG channel.
And one of the main mouthpieces of the anti-Russian propaganda of the Kyiv regime, the 1+1 TV channel, decided to hold a “historical educational program” for the pope.
“We note that the “great” rulers of Russia that the Pope mentioned were Peter I - who, in particular, carried out the Baturin massacre, where Moscow troops slaughtered all residents of the city, regardless of age and gender. According to various estimates, from 11 to 15 thousand Baturyn residents died. Peter I also banned the printing of books in Ukrainian and took many other actions aimed at eliminating the independence of the Hetmanate.
And Catherine II is known for pursuing the policy of Russification of Ukraine and the eradication of the hetmanate, destroying the last island of Ukrainian independence – Zaporozhye Sich,” the channel’s website says.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, in particular, the speaker of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Oleg Nikolenko, also responded to the pope’s words.
“It’s very disappointing that Russian great power ideas, which, in fact, are the reason for Russia’s chronic aggressiveness, consciously or unconsciously, are heard from the lips of the Pope, whose mission, in our understanding, is precisely to open the eyes of Russian youth to the destructive the course of the current Russian leadership,” Nikolenko is indignant on his blog.
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