Lithuania has summoned the Vatican’s highest representative in the country to protest against a speech by Pope Francis.
On Friday, the Pope gave a speech via link to young Catholics in St. Petersburg where, among other things, he urged the audience to remember “the great Russian empire”.
The problem is that the Russian Empire from the Lithuanian horizon evokes memories of Russian expansion and annexation when large parts of the Polish-Lithuanian Empire became part of Tsarist Russia at the end of the 18th century under the rule of Catherine the Great.
The Vatican has tried to pour oil on the waves, saying in a statement that the Pope’s intention was to “promote all the positives of the Russian cultural and spiritual heritage”. Francis “definitely did not want to pay tribute to imperialism”, writes spokesperson Matteo Bruni.
But criticism has come from several quarters. Ukraine has also raised the speech as irresponsible and “deeply regrettable”.
The speech was supposed to be about safeguarding peace and reconciliation, but in what is said to have been an improvised part, the Pope also said that:
– Don’t forget yours. You are the heirs of the great Russia before he concluded with the words “Go forward. Thank you for your way of being, for your way of being Russian”.
Unlike in Lithuania, the speech was appreciated by Moscow. According to spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin believes that the Pope shows “deep understanding of Russian history”.