VATICAN CITY (CNS)—The Vatican has had diplomatic contact with Russia regarding comments Pope Francis made about Russian minorities being answerable for the worst acts of cruelty within the country’s war on Ukraine.
Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry, told reporters Dec. 15 that the Vatican had apologized and so Russia considered the matter closed, the Russian news agency Tass reported.
“We received a letter through diplomatic channels from the Vatican, which accommodates an official statement on behalf of Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin in reference to the pontiff’s aforementioned statement,” Zakharova said, based on Tass.
The Vatican letter “says, particularly, the next: ‘The Vatican Secretariat of State apologizes to the Russian side. The Holy See has the utmost respect for all peoples of Russia, their dignity, faith and culture, in addition to for other countries and peoples of the world,’” Tass reported Zakharova as saying.
The Vatican has had diplomatic contact with Russia regarding comments Pope Francis made about Russian minorities being answerable for the worst acts of cruelty within the country’s war on Ukraine.
Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office, told reporters, “I can confirm there have been diplomatic contacts in that respect.” He didn’t add other details.
In an interview in late November with America magazine, Pope Francis spoke of the “cruelty” of Russian troops in Ukraine.
“Generally, the cruelest are perhaps those that are of Russia but are usually not of the Russian tradition, reminiscent of the Chechens, the Buryati and so forth. Actually, the one who invades is the Russian state. This could be very clear. Sometimes I try to not specify in order to not offend and slightly condemn typically, even though it is well-known whom I’m condemning. It is just not essential that I put a reputation and surname,” the pope had said.
Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, had called the pope “un-Christian” for his characterization of the mostly Muslim Chechens of southwest Russia and the mostly Buddhist Buryats from eastern Siberia.
On his return flight to Rome from Bahrain Nov. 6, Pope Francis had placed the blame for a lot of the cruelty on “mercenaries” fighting for Russia.
“What strikes me—because of this I take advantage of the word ‘martyred’ for Ukraine—is the cruelty, which is just not of the Russian people, since the Russian persons are a fantastic people, but of the mercenaries, of the soldiers who go off to war as an adventure,” the pope told reporters.
