The Pope admitted that his recent comments on Russia were "ill-formed".
Reuters writes about it.
Speaking to reporters en route from Mongolia, Francis also said he wanted to remind young Russians of a great cultural heritage, not a political one.
- On August 25, Pope Francis addressed the participants of the 10th All-Russian Day of Catholic Youth in St. Petersburg via video link. There, he called on Russians to never give up their heritage, because "you are the descendants of the great mother Russia, step forward with it." The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine stated that the Kremlin justifies the killing of Ukrainians and the destruction of Ukraine with such imperialist propaganda, and expressed regret that Russian great-power ideas come from the Pope. The Popeʼs speech was also criticized by the head of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, Sviatoslav, saying that the words of Francis contradicted his doctrine of peace.
- On August 29, the head of the press service of the Vatican, Matteo Bruni, said that the Pope wanted to encourage young people to preserve and develop everything positive that is in the "great Russian cultural and spiritual heritage". According to him, Francis did not want to glorify imperialist logic and Russian statesmen.
- Lithuania summoned the top diplomat of the Vatican after the words of Pope Francis about "great mother Russia".