M. Shchokin: Look what the the Pope has been saying lately.
А. Radouskaya: And what kind of cross did he put on himself, have you seen it? An LGBT one.
M. Shchokin: He even approved the minting of silver coins in honour of the Azov fighters. After that, by the way, they started to burn down Orthodox churches in Ukraine.
The Vatican press office considers the coins to be dedicated to peace in Ukraine and calls it "a way to join calls for a halt to weapons and a return to dialogue".
There are no Azov or Azov fighters on the coin itself. One side of the coin shows a family fleeing the destroyed city with a single suitcase. A child is holding a soft toy. At the top, the word "peace" is written in Latin and Cyrillic. The reverse side shows a dove of peace with an olive branch above Pope Francis’ name and coat of arms, as well as an extract from the prayer he recited for peace in Ukraine.
The coin is worth 50 euros, and all proceeds from its sale will go to charity in favor of the Ukrainian people. Where Shchokin saw the Azov fighters remains a mystery.
And now about the LGBT Cross that Alena Radouskaya believes the Pope has put on himself. You can indeed google Pope Francis with two crosses on his chest, one of which is multi-coloured.
But it has nothing to do with the LGBT community. In 2018, the Pope met with faithful young people from Latin America, who presented him with this cross. The Vatican even specifically explained on its Twitter page at the time what the multi-coloured cross meant.
"The colours of the cross handed over to the Pope today represent different regions of the Latin American youth church. Green: Mexico and Central America. Yellow: the Caribbean. Red: the Andean Region. Blue: the Southern Cone Region," the Vatican said in a statement.
On the Latin American Catholic Youth website, you can also read that the colours resemble Latin American ecosystems - there are jungles, volcanoes, beaches and sea. Support for the LGBT community is out of the question. Especially since the LGBT rainbow flag has a slightly different order of colours.
A special reminder to Alena Radouskaya that the rainbow flag is not only an LGBT symbol. In Italy it’s the symbol of peace and in Peru it’s the flag of the city of Cusco. Moreover, it is believed to have been the flag of the Inca Empire.
So it's not all LGBT that's rainbow.
And there is nothing wrong with supporting the LGBT community in general.