Vatican tried to fix a strained relationship with her today Ukraine after Pope Francis angered Kyiv by calling Russian ultra-nationalist Daria Duginaya, who died in a car bomb near Moscow, an innocent victim of the war.

Last week, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba summoned the Vatican’s ambassador to Kyiv to protest, saying the pope’s words were “unfair” and “broke Ukraine’s heart.”

The Pope was sharply criticized by the Ukrainian Ambassador to the Vatican, Andriy Yuras.

Francis sparked controversy last Wednesday when he spoke out of context to a general audience of believers on the anniversary of Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and six months after the start of the Russian invasion.

“Innocent payment for the war,” Francis said, referring to “that poor girl who was blown up by a bomb planted under a car seat in Moscow.”

“Interest in human life, not political position”

The statement released today by the Vatican does not specifically mention the Pope’s comments on Dugina, but speaks of a “public discussion of the political significance” of the Pope’s comments on Ukraine.

He said that they should be seen as a sign of concern for human life, and not as a manifestation of a political position.

Alexander Dugin, Daria’s father, has long advocated the unification of Russian-speaking and other regions into a new Russian empire that would include Ukraine.

Dugina was widely supportive of her father’s ideas and herself appeared on state television offering support for Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

Russia has accused Ukrainian agents of killing Dugina on August 20, but Kyiv denies the charge.

The Vatican said in a statement that the war “began with the Russian Federation.” This phrase, said by one diplomat, is apparently intended to convince Kyiv that the Vatican is not putting Russia and Ukraine on the same side.

On Twitter the day the Pope made his comments, Yuras, Ukraine’s envoy to the Vatican, said: “How can one of the ideologues of (Russian) imperialism be referred to as an innocent victim? … We cannot put in the same category an aggressor and a victim, a rapist and a rapist.”

The Vatican said in a statement that the pope “clearly and unequivocally” condemned the war as “morally unjustified, unacceptable, barbaric, irrational, disgusting and unjust”.

In an exclusive interview with Reuters last month, Francis said he wants to visit Kyiv but also wants to go to Moscow, preferably first to promote peace.

^{Source: APE-MEB, Reuters}