Pope Francis has praised the “wisdom” of German Chancellor Angela Merkel in an interview. However, the words he quoted came from Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. Pope Francis has mistakenly attributed criticism by Russian President Vladimir Putin of the West’s interventionist policy in Afghanistan to German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU). The head of the Catholic Church called Merkel “one of the great figures of international politics” and then quoted her as saying: “It is necessary to put an end to the irresponsible policy of intervening from the outside and building democracy in other countries, ignoring the traditions of the peoples. “While Merkel, too, has stressed in light of the Afghanistan debacle that international deliberation and future careful consideration of where to intervene is necessary, the quote cited by the pope is the position of Putin, who has long accused the West of meddling in the internal affairs of other countries.
Merkel visited Moscow a few weeks ago
But the pope, in an interview broadcast Wednesday by Spanish radio station Cope, praised the “wisdom” of “this woman’s” words during her Moscow visit a week and a half ago. The Vatican did not initially respond to a request for comment on the 84-year-old Argentine’s remarks. It is Francis’ first interview after his stay at the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome in early July. Doctors had removed part of his intestine during the planned procedure because he had a disease that can sometimes cause severe abdominal pain.
