The Vatican said Tuesday afternoon that Pope Francis did not intend to glorify Russian imperialism with his comments, which the Kremlin called “very, very flattering,” Reuters reported.

The sovereign pontiff has come under fire in recent days after he told young Catholics in Russia last week that they were heirs to tsars such as Catherine II and Peter the Great, which President Vladimir Putin himself used as an example to justify Moscow’s actions . in Ukraine.

“You are the heirs of the great Russia: the great Russia of saints, tsars, the great Russia of Peter the First, Catherine II, the great Russian Empire, culture, so much culture, so much humanity. You are the heirs of the great mother Russia. Go forward,” said, among other things, the leader of the Catholic Church.

Both Peter the Great and Catherine II expanded the Russian Empire, including parts of modern Ukrainian territory.

The Ukrainian government called Pope Francis’ comments in a video message to young Catholics who gathered in St. Petersburg last week “deeply regrettable.”

“The Pope aimed to encourage the youth to preserve and popularize everything positive in the great Russian cultural and spiritual heritage, and he certainly did not want to get carried away by imperialist logic and statesmen (whom he) mentioned to point to some historical events. reference periods,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said on Tuesday.

The Kremlin claims that Pope Francis accepts the Russian version of history

Despite the Vatican’s clarification, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday praised Pope Francis for his comments.

“The sovereign pontiff knows the history of Russia, and that is very good. It has deep roots, and our heritage is not limited to Peter (the Great) or Catherine, it is much older,” he said.

Russians traditionally claim their descent from a group of medieval principalities formed around Kyiv, known collectively as Kyivan Rus.

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has stated several times that this country has no tradition of its own statehood and that Russians and Ukrainians are one people.

Historians and Western scholars prove that these statements of his are false and an example of historical revisionism in favor of Moscow.

But Dmytro Peskov on Tuesday named “the Russian state, activist groups, schools and universities” who, he said, “are now passing this legacy on to our youth, reminding them of this.”

“And the fact that the sovereign pontiff is in unison with these efforts is very, very nice,” President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman emphasized.

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