The Vatican sought to defend Pope Francis on Tuesday after he sparked fury in Ukraine by praising Russia’s imperial rulers — a history President Vladimir Putin has invoked to justify his ongoing war.
The Kremlin delighted in the controversy, which stemmed from comments the pontiff made to a group of young Russian Catholics urging them to see themselves as the heirs of a “great” empire.
“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,” he told them in St. Petersburg by live video Friday.
Sure - except with current worldwide climate of politicians using national pride to nurture nationalism and xenophobia (see US, Brazil, Hungary, Turkey, Russia, Poland, and I bet many other) - this is clearly going to be spun by Russian propaganda as external support for their “fight against EU and Ukraine aggression”.