From one emperor to another
Whoopsie, the Pope let the mask slip.
The Vatican sought to defend Pope Francis on Tuesday after he sparked fury in Ukraine by praising Russia’s imperial rulers — a history President Vladimir Putin has invoked to justify his ongoing war.
The Kremlin delighted in the controversy, which stemmed from comments the pontiff made to a group of young Russian Catholics urging them to see themselves as the heirs of a “great” empire.
No no no, Mister Pontiff, that’s the part you’re not supposed to say out loud. You’re not supposed to admit it’s about power and domination. Big big no-no.
“Don’t forget your heritage. You are the descendants of great Russia: the great Russia of saints, rulers, the great Russia of Peter I, Catherine II, that empire — educated, great culture and great humanity,” he told them in St. Petersburg by live video Friday.
“Never give up on this heritage. You are descendants of the great Mother Russia, step forward with it. And thank you — thank you for your way of being, for your way of being Russian.”
The great Mother Russia that wants to clasp Ukraine to her bosom even if she has to slaughter every last Ukrainian to do it.
The pope was strongly criticized by Ukrainian leaders, who said he was repeating Russian nationalist talking points that are used to justify the Kremlin’s war. Russian President Vladimir Putin has compared himself to the expansionist Peter the Great and spoken of Ukraine being part of a historic, greater Russia.
“It is precisely with such imperialist propaganda, the ‘spiritual ties’ and the ‘need’ to save ‘great Mother Russia’ that the Kremlin justifies the killing of thousands of Ukrainians and the destruction of Ukrainian cities and villages,” Oleg Nikolenko, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, said on Facebook.
Which means it all fits. The papacy has always been an empire – it’s no accident its home base is Rome, you know.
Francis’ latest intervention was warmly received in the Kremlin.
“It is admirable that the pontiff knows Russian history,” Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said in his daily press briefing Tuesday.
“It is deep and the legacy is very old, not restricted to Peter I. The entire society and schools work hard to hand over this to young people. The pontiff going along with this effort is really good and makes us glad,” he said.
Yup yup yup, good stuff. You can’t have too much imperial pride.
H/t Richard Glosson
Yeah, not to put too fine a point on it, but “the great Mother Russia” can go fuck itself, a sentiment that my Baltic relatives might say is not really as strong as they’d like to put it. Oh, and Pope Francis? That goes for you, too.
I wonder what he would say if Britain started bombing Dublin as part of restoring Ireland to its once great Empire? We could repeal the Catholic Emancipation Act (1829) while we were at it.
It is commonly said that democracy dies in darkness. Popular power also flourishes best on islands and in mountainous regions, as in Iceland and Switzerland. That is probably why Genghis Khan stopped his rampage at the gates of Vienna, after having plundered, raped and pillaged his way across most of the mainly flat Eurasian landmass then behind him.
Both the Russian and Chinese communist revolutions resulted in the fall of what had previously been not nation-states, but empires. Putin in his attempted conquest of the Ukraine is merely carrying on that Russian imperial tradition. If he is successful, expect his conquest to be followed by a purge of all the Ukrainian patriots, liberals and democrats that he and his cronies can chuck into the Lubyanka or into a revived gulag archipelago.
https://www.traveltalktours.com/au/facts-about-moscows-kremlin/#:~:text=5.,biggest%20one%20still%20in%20use.
With something like 99% illiteracy, and an economy resting on the backs of millions of people even more degraded than most slaves.
Hardly surprising though. Love of empire has always been at the foundation of the Catholic Church (and the Orthodox Church for that matter). The Catholic Church in particular has always lent its strength to rulers who would acknowledge its own primacy in return. When the Roman Empire first began to falter in many places it was Bishops who stepped up to lead local defence and administration. I think it’s fair to say that in its heart of hearts the Church resents the way it has currently been sidelined and is biding its time for a return to dominance in the future. As for ‘Great Russia’, it’s empire was always based on the total power of one ruler and the near total power of the Princes and nobility beneath them, each in their own sphere. Few ruled with wisdom and care, and as far as I can tell none gave a damn about the population as a whole. Russia not only does not support freedom or democracy, it actively fears it and wants to destroy it for the simple reason that it is unknown in Russia’s history. That is why Russian rulers, be they Tsar’s, Communists, or Oligarchs stamp first on the green shoots appearing in Russia itself.
Frankie seems to have forgotten that Tsarist Russia was fanatically Orthodox, to the point of passing laws discriminating against both Catholic and Protestant Russians (as well as Jews).