Vatican defends pope's praise of Russian empire after fury in Ukraine
www.nbcnews.com
"Don’t forget your heritage," Pope Francis urged an audience of young Russian Catholics on Friday, in comments that sparked anger in Kyiv and delight from the Kremlin.

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.

  • PeleSpirit@lemmy.worldEnglish
    21·
    1 year ago

    In some ways, researchers have found more contradictions than clear answers. At the same time Catholic rescuers were helping Jews, some of those same people were also helping Nazis. The Catholic Church worked to win clemency for convicted Nazi war criminals after the war. “The justification given for aid to Nazi war criminals was Christian love and mercy,” says Brown-Fleming, whose research focuses on this effort. “I’m finding that the Holy See wanted to show gratitude for the protection of the city of Rome during the occupation of Rome under the Nazis in 1943. Some German generals later convicted in the Nuremberg Trials had helped to defend property and valuable art and tried to avoid damaging Vatican property and cultural treasures in Rome.”

    https://time.com/6270677/catholic-church-holocaust-documents/

    Also, look into the vatileaks, they found that some in the vatican were funding the nazis.

    • SCB@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      So not the Church then, and then the Church did the most Christian thing possible and advocated forgiveness?

      Yeah, they’re just monsters.

    • Akasazh@feddit.nlEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Thnx. My point was that the church opposed the Nazi regime more (in words, that is) in comparison to how the current pope opposes the Russian invasion.

      At least I am sure they aren’t assisting the Russians behond the scenes.