Podolyak, advisor to the Ukrainian president, considered that the pontiff cannot play a role in a mediation process, after “strictly cultural” comments [como considera Papa].
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The main advisor to the Ukrainian Presidency considered this Friday that Pope Francis cannot mediate in the conflict in Ukraine because he is “pro-Russian”, after the pontiff mentioned during a speech the “Great Mother Russia” and its cultural heritage.
Last August, in a speech to young Russian Catholics, Francis praised the heritage of the “Great Mother Russia”. “Never forget this great legacy. You are the heirs of the great mother Russia, carry on with her,” he stated at the time.
Pope Francis criticized after references to the “great Russian Empire” at a youth meeting
These comments by the Pope, which he later insisted were strictly culturalIt angered kyiv, which accused Francis of legitimizing Moscow’s past and present imperialist initiatives.
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During a controversial interview with Oksana Kharkovska of the Ukrainian television channel Channel 24, published by place Vatican media Il Sismograph — Mykhailo Podolyak, top advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said this Friday that the pontiff cannot play a role in a mediation process after such comments. “The Pope cannot play a mediating role, because is pro-russian and it is not credible,” said the counselor.
In such a situation, Podolyak stated that kyiv excludes the possibility of Vatican mediation to resolve the military conflict on Ukrainian territory. In the same interview, Podolyak also hinted existence of Russian investments at the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), better known as the Vatican Bank.
Last Monday, aboard the papal plane and upon his return to Rome after a visit to Mongolia, Francis explained that he was not praising Russian imperialism, but urged “conserving the heritage” and “the transmission of Russian culture.”
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“In a dialogue with young Russians, in the end I gave them a message that I always repeat: take care of your heritage. It’s the same thing I say everywhere., the need for dialogue between grandparents and grandchildren. This was the message,” she clarified at the time. The Pope added that he was referring to “Great Russia” to underline his message, because “The Russian heritage is very good and very beautiful. and just think about the field of literature, of music, until you reach the writer Fyodor Dostoevsky” who addresses humanism.
Pope Francis recognized that the third part of his speech, in which he reiterated the heritage speech, “Maybe I wasn’t very happy”, but indicated that “it was not a reference to the geographical plane but to the cultural one.” “I said it because that’s what I studied in high school,” she added. “I wanted to say that they have to inherit their culture, that it cannot be bought anywhere else and that Russian culture is beautiful and deep and will not remain frozen even though Russia has gone through dark times,” he highlighted.
The Pope also stressed that I didn’t think about “imperialism”, because “there are imperialisms that want to impose their own ideology and when culture is distilled and becomes ideology it becomes poison.” The Pope’s words were criticized at the time by the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Oleg Nikolenko, considering that they defended “Russian imperialism.”
Source: Observadora
