Pope Francis: Beautiful Profound Russian Culture Should Not Be Canceled
Sept. 5, 2023 (EIRNS)—Pope Francis spoke with reporters yesterday, while on his flight back from Mongolia, about his praise of Russian culture, in an August 25 video conference with 400 young Roman Catholics in St. Petersburg. “Maybe it wasn’t the best way of putting it, but in speaking of the great Russia, I was thinking not so much geographically but culturally,” Francis said, mentioning Russian literary icon Fyodor Dostoevsky, one of his favorite authors. “It was an off-the-cuff comment that came to mind because I studied it [Russian history] in school,” he said, explaining why he mentioned Peter and Catherine. “Russian culture is of such beauty, such profoundness. It should not be canceled because of political problems. There were dark political years in Russia, but the heritage is there, available to all,” he said.
On August 25, the Pope had told the youth: “Don’t forget your heritage. You are the descendants of great Russia: the great Russia of saints, rulers, the great Russia of Peter I, Catherine II, that empire — 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.”
Mikhail Podoliak, a top aide to Ukraine’s President Vladimir Zelensky, responded by accusing Pope Francis of serving “as an instrument of Russian propaganda.” Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko called out the Pope: “It is precisely with such imperialist propaganda, the ‘spiritual ties’ and the ‘need’ to save ‘great Mother Russia’ that the Kremlin justifies the killing of thousands of Ukrainians and the destruction of Ukrainian cities and villages.” Lithuania’s Foreign Affairs Ministry announced they had summoned the Vatican’s representative for a talk. Estonia’s former president Toomas Hendrik Ilves called the Pope’s remarks “truly revolting.” He then employed the slur, “the Vatnikan” (vatnik means someone who parrots Kremlin propaganda).
The head of Ukraine’s Eastern Rite Catholic Church, Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, criticized the Pope, saying that “the examples cited by the Holy Father actually contradict his teaching on peace.” He said that a clarification from him is needed, because “there is a danger that these words may be perceived as support for the nationalism and imperialism that has caused the war in Ukraine today” and that he feared they could “inspire the neo-colonial ambitions of the aggressor country.” On August 29, the Vatican responded: “As is clear from the context in which he spoke to them, the Pope intended to encourage young people to preserve and promote what is positive in Russia’s great cultural and spiritual heritage, and certainly not to glorify an imperialistic logic….”
The same day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented: “It is admirable that the Pontiff knows Russian history.” “It is deep and the legacy is very old, not restricted to Peter I. The entire society and schools work hard to hand over this to young people. The pontiff going along with this effort is really good and makes us glad.”
The Pope’s actual central message to the young Russians seems to have been little valued in the West: “I wish you, young Russians, the vocation to be artisans of peace in the midst of so many conflicts, in the midst of so much polarization on all sides, which plague our world…. I invite you to be sowers, to sow seeds of reconciliation, little seeds that in this winter of war will not sprout in the frozen ground for the time being, but will blossom in a future spring…. Have the courage to replace fears with dreams. Replace fears with dreams. Replace fears with dreams. Do not be stewards of fears but entrepreneurs of dreams. Allow yourself the luxury of dreaming big!”
When asked, on his return trip from his four-day visit to Mongolia, about his greetings to China as he was traveling over the country on the way to Mongolia, the Pope said that the Vatican enjoys a “very respectful” relationship. According to press reports, the pontiff also warned against the influence of what he called “ideology” on an upcoming Synod of Bishops at the Vatican, indicating that his future travel plans may be curtailed given considerations of health and limitations on movement. He is also said to have distanced himself from climate-change extremists. “Relations with China are very respectful, very respectful,” the Pope said. “Personally, I have a great admiration for the Chinese culture, they are very open,” he said, adding that many Catholic pastors and intellectuals study in Chinese universities, so “there is openness in this sense.”
“I think we must keep going forward in the religious aspect to understand each other better so that the Chinese don’t think that the church doesn’t accept their culture or their values, and that the church depends on a different foreign power,” he said, alluding to what has traditionally been a key source of concern for the Chinese government about the Catholic presence in the country, presently estimated to number roughly 13 million. Relations with China, the Pope told journalists on September 4, are “in progress.”
Outreach to China featured throughout the Pope’s four-day Mongolia trip. During his final Mass in Ulaanbaatar’s Steppe Arena Sunday, for instance, the Pope offered an off-the-cuff greeting to the “noble Chinese people.” Over 170 Chinese visited Mongolia on tourist visas in order to participate in some of the events in Mongolia.
The Pope also noted the more strategic nature of his visit to Mongolia, situated as it is between China and Russia.
