Pope Francis admitted yesterday that it may not have been "entirely correct" to speak of Great Russia in impromptu remarks he dedicated to young Catholics in Saint Petersburg last week, words that caused a huge dust-up and that cause strong unrest in Ukraine. Francis, in a speech by video conference, reminded them that they were the heirs of tsars like Peter the Great, who invaded part of Sweden and Finland, and with whom Vladimir Putin has compared himself to justify the offensive in Ukraine.
"Don't forget the inheritance. You are the heirs of the Great Russia: the great Russia of the saints, of the kings, the great Russia of Peter the Great, of Catherine II, that great Russian empire, cultured, of so much culture, of so much humanity. Do not give up this inheritance. You are the heirs of Great Mother Russia, go ahead", the Pope told them.
When asked about this issue at the press conference returning from his trip to Mongolia, a country bordering Russia, the Pontiff clarified that perhaps it was not entirely correct to reiterate the speech on heritage and in which he cited the Great Russia, "not geographically, but culturally", and he also mentioned tsars like Peter the Great or Catherine of Russia, but that "historians will have to talk about this". "In a dialogue with young Russians, at the end I sent them a message that I always repeat: to take charge of their heritage. And it's the same thing I say everywhere, the need for dialogue between grandparents and grandchildren. That was the message", he clarified.
According to Francis, these improvised words, which the Vatican excluded from the official transcript of the speech, were an addition based on what he had studied at school. “I said, in fact, the idea of Great Russia, because the Russian heritage is very good, it is very beautiful. Consider the field of literature, the field of music, up to a Dostoevsky who today speaks to us of mature humanism; he has assumed this humanism, which has developed in art and literature", he explained to journalists on board the papal plane. "Russian culture is beautiful, of great depth; and it should not be erased because of political problems. There have been dark years in Russia, but the inheritance has always been like this, in the hands", he insisted.
The Ukrainian authorities regretted that with this speech Francis continued the "imperialist propaganda" with which "the Kremlin justifies the murder of thousands of Ukrainians and the destruction of Ukrainian cities and towns". On the other hand, in Moscow they were delighted with the Pope's words and the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, assured that it was "very good" that he knew Russian history. But yesterday the Jesuit pope remarked that he was not thinking about imperialism, but that he was "talking about culture", and "the transmission of culture is never imperial, never; it's always dialogue, and that's what I was talking about." "When culture is distilled and becomes ideology, that's what happens. Culture is used, but distilled into ideology", the Pontiff extended, in a long answer.
The journey to Mongolia, with a nine-hour flight, has been exhausting for Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who will be 87 years old in a few months and who is forced to use a wheelchair to get around. For this reason, he already said that "making a trip now is not as easy as at the beginning". The Pope was asked about a possible visit to Vietnam, as some Vietnamese Catholics traveled to Mongolia to see him and asked him to visit them as well. About this, he jokingly said: "If I don't go, John XXIV will certainly go", speculating on the name of his successor.
The Pontiff also spoke of the "very respectful" relations between the Holy See and China, Mongolia's neighbor, an important matter since, with the controversial agreement for the appointment of bishops signed in 2018, the Argentine Pope is trying to end to the division of Catholics between the official Church endorsed by the State and the clandestine one, which obeys Rome. "I think we need to advance in the religious aspect to understand each other better and for Chinese citizens not to think that the Church does not accept their culture and values and that the Church depends on another foreign power", he opined
