Pope acknowledges his Russia comments were "badly phrased"

Pope Francis has admitted that his recent comments on "greater Russia" were "badly phrased".

He told journalists about this on his way from Mongolia.

"Speaking of the great Russia, I was thinking not so much geographically but culturally," Francis said.

At the same time, he added that "Russian culture should not be cancelled because of political problems."

"It was an off-the-cuff comment that came to mind because I studied it [Russian history] in school," Francis explained why he mentioned Peter and Catherine when addressing Russian youth.

It will be recalled that on August 25, during a video conference with Russian youth, the Pope said that they were the heirs of the "great Russian Empire".

This outraged the Ukrainian side, as Putin justified Russia's invasion by referring to the so-called heritage of these two Russian monarchs.

Russia, in turn, praised the Pope "for his knowledge of history".