Yelensky: The Pope "regrets" his words about Mother Russia
The head of the State Ethnopolitics Service is sure that the Pope considers Peter I and Catherine II as monarchs who tried to bring Russia closer to Europe.
The Head of the State Service for Ethnopolitics, Viktor Yelensky, stated to Radio Svoboda that, according to his information, the Pope "regrets" his words about the glorification of the Russian Empire.
"I also know that the Pope believed that Catherine and Peter (Russian tsars Catherine II and Peter I) were, in the context of Russian history stained with blood, truly Europeans who tried to bring Russia closer to Europe. And that's why he spoke about heritage. But there's no need to justify him by saying he didn't say what he actually said," Yelensky said.
He also recalled that the Pope has repeatedly expressed support for Ukraine but at the same time "attempted to equate the aggressor and the victim of aggression".
As earlier reported, Pope Francis called on Russians to be heirs of the great empire, the great Mother Russia.
