CHURCH leaders in Ukraine have criticised the Pope for commending Russia’s imperial legacy in an online address to young Roman Catholics in St Petersburg.
“We hope the Holy Father’s words were spoken spontaneously — without any attempt at historical evaluations, let alone support for Russia’s imperialist ambitions,” the Primate of Ukraine’s Greek Catholic Church, Major Archbishop Svetoslav Shevchuk, said.
“We share the great pain that they have caused, however, not only among our Church’s episcopate, clergy, monastics, and faithful, but also among other denominations and religious organisations. We are also aware of the deep disappointment they have caused in society.”
The Archbishop made the statement as controversy grew over Pope Francis’s closing remarks to a national meeting of Catholic Youth last Friday, in which he called on participants to continue the legacy of Russia’s “great and enlightened empire”.
He said that the Pope’s words contradicted his “doctrine of peace” and past condemnations of imperialism and “extreme nationalism”, and could be “taken as supporting” attitudes that had caused “a war bringing death and destruction” to Ukrainians.
The chairman of the Ukrainian Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Vitaliy Skomarovskyi, said that the Pope’s remarks reflected Russia’s “myth of humanism and greatness”, and had caused “confusion and pain” among Churches.
“Remembering everything that Pope Francis has done and is doing for Ukraine, we have no doubts about his support for our people,” the Bishop said in a message on Tuesday.
“We are convinced that such misunderstandings are caused by the lack of appropriate dialogue between the Pope and Ukraine — at ecclesiastical and diplomatic level. We hope that Ukrainian society’s reaction will help to correct the situation.”
The Pope’s video message was delivered to 400 young Roman Catholics in St Catherine’s Basilica, St Petersburg, as part of the All-Russian Meeting of Catholic Youth held in the city. The Vatican’s nuncio and Russia’s five Catholic bishops were present.
In his address, Pope Francis called on Russian Roman Catholics to “recognise the dreams” of previous generations and to preserve “the living history and culture of the people”. He said that they should also become “artisans of the world” and “sowers of the seeds of reconciliation”.
In an apparently unscripted addition, however, he also urged them never to forget their country’s “legacy”.
“You are heirs of great Russia: the great Russia of saints and rulers, the great Russia of Peter I and Catherine II — that empire, great, enlightened, of great culture and great humanity,” the Pontiff told young Russians.
“Never give up this legacy — you are the heirs of the great mother Russia; so keep it going. And thank you, thank you for your way of being, for your way of being Russians.”
In a Facebook message on Monday, the spokesman for Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, Oleg Nikolenko, accused the Pope of spreading “imperialist propaganda” used by the Kremlin to “justify the killing of thousands of Ukrainians, and destruction of hundreds of Ukrainian cities and villages.
“It is very unfortunate that Russian grand-state ideas — which are, in fact, the cause of Russia’s chronic aggression — come knowingly or unknowingly from the mouth of the Pope,” Mr Nikolenko, who is a former United Nations official, wrote. “His mission, in our understanding, is precisely to open the eyes of Russian youth to the disastrous course of the current Russian leadership.”
A Polish author and broadcaster, Grzegorz Gorny, said that Pope Francis’s remarks had caused “great shock” further afield. He added that Peter the Great (1672-1725) and Catherine the Great (1729-96) had “attempted to wipe out Ukraine and its population”, and been cited by President Putin to “justify his imperial policy.
“Some might say Francis’s words about Peter and Catherine were unfortunate because they came at the wrong time when Ukraine is in an unequal battle with a more powerful aggressor; but they are unacceptable, even if we disregard the Ukrainian context,” Mr Gorny told Poland’s online daily paper wPolityce.
“Francis used the word ‘empire’ in an affirmative tone, referring positively to Russia’s imperial heritage. Since his statement was spontaneous, it most likely reflects, according to Ukrainian commentators, his real views. It should also be noted that he was able to use the adjective ‘great’, in relation to Russia and Russianness, six times in one sentence.”
Some of the Pope’s previous remarks about the war in Ukraine have also provoked complaint. In May last year, he told Italy’s daily newspaper Corriere della Sera that NATO had contributed to the conflict by “barking at Russia’s door” and questioned whether Ukraine should be supplied with weapons.
The next month, he rejected any “distinction between good guys and bad guys” in an interview with the Jesuit magazine La Civiltà Cattolica. Two months later, in August 2022, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry protested after the Pope described an assassinated Russian far-Right commentator as an “innocent” paying for “the madness of all sides”.
In November, Pope Francis blamed war cruelty on mercenaries, not Russians, whom he held in “high esteem”, and called on Ukraine’s leaders to take “far-sighted decisions for peace”.
A Papal envoy, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, visited Kyiv, Moscow, and Washington, DC, in June and July, and is expected to travel to China soon in an attempt to make peace.
On Tuesday, the director of the Vatican Press Office, Matteo Bruni, told journalists that the Pontiff’s latest remarks were intended “to encourage young people to preserve and develop the positive things in the great Russian cultural and spiritual heritage”, rather than “to glorify imperialist logic”.
A press secretary for President Putin, Dmitry Peskov, welcomed the Pope’s “very gratifying” remarks, adding that they highlighted his knowledge of Russian history with its “deep roots”, and were “in unison” with efforts by Russia’s authorities “to carry this heritage to our youth”.
The controversy came as Ukrainian forces pushed deeper into Russian defensive lines near Robotyne in the south, and Russia claimed to have reduced Ukrainian attack drones over its Tula and Belgorod regions.
The funeral of a prominent Ukrainian pilot, Andriy Pilshchikov, codenamed “Juice”, who was killed in a crash during a training mission, took place on Tuesday of last week in the Greek Catholic Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, in Kyiv. A fresh UNICEF report said that Russian forces had now destroyed more than 1300 schools, leaving one third of Ukrainian schoolchildren attending classes at home, and many others “deeply distressed without safe spaces to learn”.
In his statement, Archbishop Shevchuk said that the Pope’s remarks would “inspire the neo-colonial ambitions of the aggressor country”. His Church awaited an explanation from the Holy See to ensure against manipulation of the Pope’s “intentions and statements”.
A Roman Catholic professor at the Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University, in Lutsk, told the Church Times, however, that the Pontiff’s “shameful speech” had already caused a “wave of hatred” in local media. She felt “bitter and numbed” by the remarks.
In a message for start of the Orthodox year today, the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew, said that the Russian invasion had caused “incalculable losses” and “terrible ecological devastation”, accompanied by “the risk of nuclear holocaust, the emission of dangerous radiation from nuclear plants and the carcinogenic dust from exploding buildings”.
Addressing a liturgy in Assumption Cathedral, Moscow, on Monday, however, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow insisted that “those who rebel against God and challenge God’s work” would “never win”. Those “creating and provoking divisions in Ukraine” would be defeated, he said.
The chairman of the Russian Orthodox Church’s Synodal Department for Co-operation with the Armed Forces, Metropolitan Kirill (Pokrovsky) of Stavropol, told families of soldiers serving in his country’s “special military operation” that their relatives had undertaken a “sacred duty” and would enjoy “treasures in heaven”.
“They are upholding the Russian world, our culture and language, the Orthodox faith,” the Metropolitan said on Sunday, in a sermon that was posted on the Moscow Patriarchate’s website.
“Terrible things are happening in Ukraine, with schism after schism supported by notorious satanists.”
At his weekly general audience on Wednesday, the Pope offered “closeness and prayers” for “dear and martyred Ukraine”, but made no mention of the controversy over his address to Russians.