The Kremlin, for its part, welcomed the pope's remarks.
“It is very unfortunate that Russian great-power ideas, which are, in fact, the cause of Russia’s chronic aggressiveness, are consciously or unconsciously coming from the mouth of the pope, whose mission, in our understanding, is precisely to open the eyes of Russian youth to the destructive course of the current Russian leadership.”
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni issued a statement Tuesday saying the pontiff’s “off the cuff” remarks were intended to “encourage young people to preserve and promote what is positive in Russia’s great cultural and spiritual heritage”.Pope Francis regularly calls for peace in Ukraine, though in the early months after Russia’s February 2022 invasion he drew criticism for not naming Moscow as the aggressor.
Instead, it reported the pope calling on the Russian youths to be “artisans of peace” and to “sow seeds of reconciliation”.“The pontiff knows Russian history. That’s very good,” government spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
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