Pope Francis on Monday admitted that his recent remarks about Russia, seen by many as an endorsement of Russian imperialism, were uninspired, and the sovereign pontiff said he wanted to remind young Catholics in Russia of their cultural heritage, not politics, Reuters reported .

Speaking to Italian reporters after flying back to Rome from Mongolia, Francis also said he wanted to reassure China, with which the Vatican has a difficult relationship, that the Catholic Church has no ulterior motives and should not be seen as a foreign power.

Regarding the comments about Russia, Pope Francis said that “I was not thinking about imperialism when I said what I said.”

“Perhaps it wasn’t the best way to put it, but when I talked about great Russia, I wasn’t thinking about geography so much as about culture,” he explained, quoting Fyodor Dostoyevsky, one of his favorite authors.

“It was a spontaneous comment that came to me because I was studying (Russian history) at school,” he explained, and mentioned Peter the Great and Catherine II.

“Russian culture is such beauty, such depth. It should not be canceled for political reasons. There were dark political years in Russia, but the legacy is there, available to everyone,” the sovereign pontiff insisted on Monday.

Pope Francis’ comments that raised questions

The sovereign pontiff has been widely criticized after he told young Russian Catholics late last month to remember that they are the heirs of tsars like Peter the First.

“You are the heirs of 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 Vatican later clarified that the sovereign pontiff did not intend to glorify Russian imperialism in any way.

“The Pope aimed to encourage the youth to preserve and promote all that is 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 praised Pope Francis’ “very, very pleasant” comments

Despite the Vatican’s clarification, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov last week 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, collectively known as Kyivan Rus. After the start of the war in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin stated several times that this country has no traditions 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. However, Dmytro Peskov mentioned last Tuesday “the Russian state, activist groups, schools and universities” who, he said, “carry this legacy to our youth now, reminding them of it.”

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