US-Vatican: Pompeo in Rome, but the Pope does not meet him, clash over Chinese bishops

• Parolin: "Pompeo's surprise on our relations with China"

• Mike Pompeo in Rome: meetings with Conte, Parolin and Di Maio

• Pompeo: "The Vatican does not renew agreement with China, it would endanger its moral authority"

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October 01, 2020It will not be received today by Pope Francis, but by Cardinal Parolin, the American Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, who attacked the Vatican for the agreement with China on the appointment of bishops.

"Trump does not exploit the Pope for his electoral campaign", says Monsignor Gallagher.

"Pompeo slanders and attacks China for no reason", says the Chinese ambassador to Italy.

It will be an opportunity to address the obvious differences over China, this time behind closed doors, the audience granted this morning, at 11.15, by the Cardinal Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, flanked by the "Foreign Minister. "of the Holy See, Archbishop Secretary for Relations with States Paul Richard Gallagher, United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Arriving in Rome yesterday, Pompeo immediately criticized the lack of religious freedom in China, during a symposium organized by the US embassy to the Holy See.

On the eve, the Vatican had made it known, through Vatican News, that it wanted to renew the Agreement signed with China two years ago on the appointment of bishops "for another period of time".

An agreement that Pompeo had bitterly questioned with an article that appeared on September 18 in First Things, a conservative Catholic magazine from the Atlantic.

blatant move for Donald Trump's foreign minister, which Vatican diplomacy has returned to the sender.

On the sidelines of the symposium, Cardinal Parolin stressed that on the part of the Holy See there is not already "irritation", but "surprise yes" for the article, "even if we have known for a long time the position of the Trump administration and Secretary Pompeo in particular on this issue ".

The Vatican perplexity concerns the fact that the dissent over China, which is not secret, could have been discussed during today's hearing, already granted for some time, rather than being heralded in advance.

With an ostentation that Oltretevere seemed more linked to the election campaign for the US presidential elections than to a question of merit.

It is precisely for this reason, however, that "the Pope - Parolin noted - had made it clear that no political personalities are received in the election campaign".

This was echoed by the Foreign Minister of the Sata Sede, Monsignor Paul Richard Gallagher, who, again on the sidelines of the symposium, stressed that the proximity of the presidential elections in the US was "one of the reasons why the Holy Father does not receive the Secretary of State "of Trump.

The electoral challenge between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, between Republicans and Democrats, after all, is particularly heated, the theme of the Catholic faith is brandished by both sides, the tenant of the White House also showed in the last days, with the appointment to the Supreme Court of the Catholic Amy Coney Barrett, a charismatic conservative, to be able to tackle the theme to win over the traditionally divided Catholic electorate: it is natural, for this as for every other Pope, to keep a safe distance from the dispute electoral.

But while Francis has no intention of deflecting from the line of dialogue with China - a long-term policy, initiated by his immediate predecessors, and which looks to Beijing within the framework of a long-term strategy of respectful penetration of Catholicism in Asia - his men, while not concealing the differences, do not close the dialogue even with the US administration, perhaps farthest from the Apostolic Palace.

Meanwhile, the European Council "emphasizes its strong concern" about the situation of human rights in China and Hong Kong.

This is what we read in the draft conclusions that will be on the table of EU leaders in the afternoon.

The document also "encourages" Beijing to assume "greater responsibilities" and "more ambitious actions" in the fight against climate change.

And the objective of finalizing the bilateral agreement on investments by the end of the year to overcome the current asymmetries in access to the Chinese market is confirmed.