Vatican APOLOGISES to Russia over Pope Francis' 'cruellest fighters' comment

© Provided by Times Now vatican apologises to russia over pope francis' 'cruellest fighters' comment

Moscow: Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday claimed that the Vatican has apologised for Pope Francis' 'cruellest fighters' comment. Notably, Pope Francis' commented last month that Russian soldiers from some ethnic minority groups were the 'cruellest' fighters in the Ukraine conflict.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, during a briefing in Moscow on Thursday, noted that Russia accepted the apology and considered the matter closed. Zakharova further said that Russia hoped for a constructive dialogue between Moscow and the Vatican.

Pope Francis, 85, made the comments during an interview with Jesuit magazine America on November 22. "The cruellest are perhaps those who are of Russia but are not of the Russian tradition, such as the Chechens, the Buryats and so on. I speak of people who are martyred. If you have a martyred people, you have someone who martyrs them," he said.

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Notably, the Chechens originate from Chechnya in the south of Russia, while the Buryats are an ethnic group from east Siberia. Both groups are supportive of Russia's war on Ukraine.

The Pope also added that he had spoken to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky several times on the phone, and also established communication with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russia earlier reacted to Pope's comments, and called them a 'perversion', adding that national groups were 'one family'.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova lashed out against the Pope’s comments saying, "This is no longer Russophobia, it's a perversion on a level I can't even name,". Adding that "We are one family with Buryats, Chechens and other representatives of our multinational and multi-confessional country," Zakharova l wrote on Telegram.

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