“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has invited the apostolic nuncio for a conversation in early September, when Archbishop Petar Rajič returns from holiday,” Paulina Levickytė, the foreign minister’s spokeswoman, told the news agency ELTA on Wednesday.
As reported, Pope Francis praised the heritage of tsarist Russia in a speech at the 10th All-Russian Catholic Youth Assembly in Saint Petersburg last Friday.
“You are the descendants of great Russia: the great Russia of saints, rulers, the great Russia of Peter I, Catherine II, the great Russian empire: enlightened, cultured and great humanity. Never give up this legacy, you are the heirs of the great Mother Russia, go forward with it,” said the pontiff.
Ukraine has condemned the statements as imperialist propaganda that echoed the Kremlin’s claims about the need “to save great Mother Russia”.