Pope Francis’ words of praise for czarist Russia, made in a video address last Friday, weren’t meant as an endorsement of imperialism, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said on Tuesday.

“The Pope intended to encourage young people to preserve and promote all that is positive in Russia’s great cultural and spiritual heritage, and certainly not to exalt imperialist logic and ruling figures,” Bruni said, adding that the pope had mentioned czars “to indicate some historical periods of reference.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reacted favorably to Pope Francis’ comments. “The pope knows Russian history, and this is very good,” Peskov said Tuesday, according to Russian state news agency TASS. Russian authorities are working “to bring this legacy to our youth, to remind them of it. And that the Pope speaks in unison with these efforts is very gratifying,” Peskov said.

[Pope Francis is not a careful man. This comes, ironically, at the same time that the Pope scolded American conservatives for “reactionary” thinking about the Gospels and Church teachings, an irony that will not be lost for one moment with conservative Catholics. — Ed]