The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reacted to the words of Pope Francis before the participants of the 10th All-Russian Day of Catholic Youth in St. Petersburg.
"Never forget your heritage. You are the descendants of the great Russia: the great Russia of saints, rulers, the great Russia of Peter I, Catherine II, that empire — great, educated, great culture and great humanity. Never give up on this heritage. You are descendants of the great Mother Russia, step forward with it. And thank you — thank you for your way of being, for your way of being Russian," are the words of Pope Francis to Russian youth.
The spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oleg Nikolenko, said that the Kremlin justifies the killing of Ukrainians and the destruction of Ukraine with such imperialist propaganda.
Nikolenko also expressed regret that Russian great-power ideas come from 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."
- Recently, the Pope apologized to Ukrainian youth for his inability to influence the situation in Ukraine.
- Since February 24, 2022, the Pope has called for peace almost every week and has repeatedly stated that he wants to act as a mediator between Kyiv and Moscow, as well as that he wants to visit Ukraine and Russia on a peacekeeping mission.
- On May 1, 2023, Francis said the Vatican was participating in a secret peacekeeping mission to try "to put an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine."