The Vatican was taken aback by the comments of Pompeo, who is due to visit the Holy See next week.
Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane, Australia, said Pompeo’s comments were an “attempt to press-gang the Holy See into a questionable domestic/electoral agenda playing itself out on the international stage.”
The Vatican is no mood to relinquish its hard-earned breakthrough with Beijing, though church officials acknowledge that the pact on bishops has not put an end to religious persecution in China.
The Vatican just cannot abandon a deal that came after three decades of lackluster talks. The Holy See inked the historical “provisional” pact with Beijing on Sept. 22, 2018, but its details have not been made public.
The key attraction of the agreement was the role set aside for the Vatican to have a say in appointing Catholic bishops in China with a papal mandate.
Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane, Australia, said Pompeo’s comments were an “attempt to press-gang the Holy See into a questionable domestic/electoral agenda playing itself out on the international stage.”
The Vatican is no mood to relinquish its hard-earned breakthrough with Beijing, though church officials acknowledge that the pact on bishops has not put an end to religious persecution in China.
The Vatican just cannot abandon a deal that came after three decades of lackluster talks. The Holy See inked the historical “provisional” pact with Beijing on Sept. 22, 2018, but its details have not been made public.
The key attraction of the agreement was the role set aside for the Vatican to have a say in appointing Catholic bishops in China with a papal mandate.