This was stated by the Russian religious leader Leonid Sevostyanov without any evidence. The Vatican has already denied that the Pope congratulated Putin.
Pro-Russian sources report that Pope Francis allegedly congratulated Vladimir Putin on his so-called election victory in Russia. This was reported by the Russian public figure and head of the Global Union of Old Believers, Leonid Sevostyanov, who, according to his own words, is in touch with the pontiff. As one of the Telegram channels writes, «thereby [the Pope] sent a signal to the entire Catholic world that he recognizes [Putin’s] legitimacy, importance and influence on the location of chess on the world board.» Moreover, Sevostyanov also stated that Pope Francis perceives the Vatican as an international platform that could replace some functions of the UN.
However, the information turned out to be fake. The press service of the Vatican refuted this to the propaganda media RIA News, which itself was one of the first to publish the pseudo-news, from where it spread to other sources. It is interesting that Leonid Sevostyanov, the head of the so-called Global Union of Old Believers, calls himself «the representative of the pontiff in Russia», yet this is not the first time he has spread unreliable information about Pope Francis, allegedly obtained from personal communication. Last June Sevostyanov said that a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church had arrived in the Vatican to discuss the visit of the pontiff to Moscow, which the Russian Orthodox Church later denied. Sevostyanov also said that on the pontiff’s behalf, he went to Washington to meet with US State Secretary Anthony Blinken, where he conveyed the Pope’s alleged call to finance the restoration of Ukraine instead of armaments. The only confirmation that this meeting really took place are the statements of Sevostyanov himself. The fact that Francis himself never mentioned Leonid Sevostyanov in public communication, and names completely different people as his mediators in Russia, was noticed even by Russian believers.
Thus, the information that the Pope congratulated Putin on his «re-election» turned out to be misinformation. The entire civilized world does not accept the legitimacy of the elections in Russia. The German Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared that they will not use the title «President» for Putin, because the elections in Russia were neither free nor fair.
Recently, StopFake debunked another misinformation about the Pope in the article Fake: Pope Francis Was Posted on the Ukrainian Myrotvorets Website.
