Russia closes the road to the Vatican – Swiss Catholic Portal

The refusal of the Russian embassy in Italy to repair the wall facing the road near the Vatican is seriously disrupting traffic in the area. Some see this as another “revenge” measure from Moscow in the face of the Holy See’s “anti-Russian” stance.

A stone’s throw from St. Peter’s Square, the Via delle Fornaci is the great Roman artery leading from the Vatican to the Gianicolo Hill. Most of the traffic entering and leaving the area uses this street. The Catholic website reports that the closure of part of this street from the end of October 2022 is a real headache for the local authorities. CruxDecember 4, 2022.

This part of the road is dominated by Villa Abamelek, the residence of the Russian ambassador to Italy, as well as the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria. The Roman authorities closed the street, fearing that the huge and dilapidated stone wall surrounding the Russian property might blow away. The problem is that the Russians seem to be in no rush to make the necessary repairs.

The street closure causes serious traffic problems and endangers businesses and businesses on the outskirts of the Vatican. A local bar has already closed due to lack of customers, and several restaurants may suffer the same fate.

Stiffness of speech

A quackery consistent with Russia’s other unsavory actions against the Holy See since the conflict in Ukraine began. Pope Francis has always condemned the war, although at first he was quite cautious, especially avoiding mentioning Vladimir Putin by name. But the more intense the conflict, the more precisely the pontiff expressed himself. He recently said during an interview with “Jesuit” magazine America It particularly irritated the Russian authorities. “I have a lot of information about the brutality of the troops in Ukraine,” the Pope said. “In general, [soldats] perhaps the most brutal are the Chechens, Buryats and others who are from Russia but do not conform to Russian traditions,” referring to two ethnic minorities in the Russian Federation.

Wrath of the Kremlin

Kremlin spokesmen strongly criticized these words. The latest to join the fray was Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who accused Francis of using “anti-Christian” rhetoric. The spokeswoman of the ministry, Maria Zakharova, said: “This is no longer Russophobia, but a distortion of the truth at a level that I cannot even name.”

Chechen army commander Ramzan Kadyrov joined the chorus. “As the spiritual guide of millions of Catholics, the Pope should have used more peaceful rhetoric instead of spreading hatred and inter-ethnic discord between nations. “Before NATO intervened in the internal affairs of Ukraine, we had no problem with the Ukrainian people (…) The same cannot be said for the pastoral actions of the Pope and the NATO instructors who are trying to convert as many Ukrainian soldiers as possible. it becomes cannon fodder,” the Chechen leader added.

Excretion in the embassy

Diatribes accompanied by hostile actions. In early December, the shadow of the Kremlin appeared behind a series of cyber attacks against Vatican websites. Individuals also broke into the Ukrainian embassy in the Holy See. They spread excrement there.

All indicators show that relations between the world’s smallest and largest states are at the lowest level. No one expects diplomatic channels or the Via delle Fornaci to reopen in the near future. (cath.ch/crux/arch/rz)