Pope Francis has become a propaganda tool of the Russian Federation and supported the «Russian world», said Mikhail Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the president's office.
In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, he noted that the Pope held a teleconference with Catholic youth in Russia on August 25. He urged them to be "sowers of the seeds of reconciliation" and noted that they are heirs to the great Russia: saints, rulers, Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, a great and enlightened country, and urged them not to give up this inheritance.
Podolyak called the pontiff's speech destructive to humanism. The Pope's words are allegedly encouragements of imperialism and the idea of "Russian peace."
The Holy See reported that the pontiff did not intend to "exalt the logic of imperialism." The pope wanted to encourage young people to promote everything positive in Russia's "great cultural and spiritual heritage."
The Vatican embassy in Kiev said that Francis was an opponent of imperialism.