(ZENIT News / Rome, 28.08.2023).- On Friday afternoon, August 25, the Holy Father made a video appeal to participants in the National Meeting of Young Catholic People of Russia. It was in this context that, after listening to the testimony of two participants, the Pontiff pronounced his address.
The Holy See Press Office distributed the text of the Pope’s words, but in the distribution it omitted a part, which has now become a topic of controversy in Ukraine. It was possible to note the omission thanks to the fact that the Website of the diocese of the Mother of God published in full the Holy Father’s words. The part that the Holy See didn’t refer to was the part where the Supreme Pontiff said to the young people:
“Never forget your roots. You are the heirs of great Russia: the great Russia of saints, of rulers, of the great Russia of Peter I, Catherine II, that great empire, enlightened, of great culture and great humanity, never renounce this patrimony. You are the heirs of great Mother Russia, go forward. And thank you. Thank you for your way of being, for your way of being Russians.”
X All-Russian Meeting of Catholic Youth. Photo: cathmos
The Pope’s words have not sat well in Ukraine. The Major Archbishop of the Greek Catholics issued a statement stressing that “The danger exists that these words are perceived as a support of nationalism and imperialism, which has caused the war in Ukraine today, a war that brings death and destruction to our people every day.” He also said that “in the context of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, such statements inspire the neo-colonial ambitions of the aggressor country, although we should condemn categorically this form of “being Russian.” And he added: “To avoid any manipulations of the intentions, of the context and of the statements attributed to the Holy Father, we hope that the Holy See will explain this situation.”
At the close of this edition of ZENIT, the clarification hadn’t arrived. A press release of the Apostolic Nunciature in Kiev did arrive in which it states, among other things, that Pope Francis has never backed imperialist notions. On the contrary, he is a firm opponent and critic of any form of imperialism or colonialism in all peoples and situations. The words of the Roman Pontiff pronounced on August 25 must be understood in this same context.”
Video message from Pope Francis during the X All-Russian Meeting of Catholic Youth. Photo: cathmos
In past statements of the Holy Father, for example speaking of some peoples of the Russian Federation, a tense diplomatic situation was created, which made necessary an apology from the Vatican Secretariat of State. The gesture of two persons, one Ukrainian and one Russian, in the 2022 Via Crucis, was also judged diplomatically as imprudent and at the end of the corresponding station of the Via Crucis, the station was lived in silence. Needless to say, in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, diplomacy is now highly sensitive.
