Pope snubs Pompeo: Vatican leader refuses to meet secretary of state after he criticizes Church deal with China
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has faced the Vatican’s flak as the latter accused him of dragging the Catholic Church into the upcoming presidential election. It even said on Wednesday, September 30, that it denied a request from the top defense official of the Donald Trump administration to get an audience with Pope Francis, Reuters reported.
The controversy erupted after the hardliner secretary of state accused the Church earlier this month in an article and on social media targeting its “moral authority” by renewing an agreement with China over appointment of bishops.
Last month, it was reported that Washington was left displeased as the Vatican and China prepared to renew the historic agreement on bishops’ appointment. While Pope Francis focused on repairing ties with Beijing’s Communist regime, it put him at odds with Trump who has attacked China on various fronts ahead of his reelection bid next month. While Trump has taken on China over trade, he has also blasted it over the origin of coronavirus pandemic that has left more than 200,000 dead in the US besides targeting it over the theme of religious freedom.
Pompeo slammed China's religious freedom records in an article
Likewise, Pompeo expressed his disappointment in an article in US religious magazine ‘First Things’ in which he lashed out at “horrific” persecutions of believers of all faiths in the Asian nation. The Republican, who went to a two-day official visit to Rome starting Wednesday, September 30, took a dig at China over its records on religious freedom and said at an event organized by the US Embassy to the Holy See: “Nowhere is religious freedom under assault more than it is inside of China today. That is because, as with all communist regimes, the Chinese Communist party deems itself the ultimate moral authority.”
Pompeo criticized the agreement between the Vatican City and China that was inked in September 2018 in his article to say: “It’s clear that the Sino-Vatican agreement has not shielded Catholics from the Party’s depredations, to say nothing of the Party’s horrific treatment of Christians, Tibetan Buddhists, Falun Gong devotees, and other religious believers.”
Reuters reported recently that Pope Francis, 83, agreed to renew the two-year-old agreement with the Chinese foreign ministry saying “the two sides will continue to maintain close communication and consultation and improve bilateral relations”. The original deal took effect on October 22, 2018.
'Vatican-China deal has nothing to do with US politics'
However, the stance taken by Pompeo to step up pressure on the Vatican seems to have made things worse. After the secretary of state, who is scheduled to meet Vatican officials on Thursday, October 1, repeated China’s record on religious freedoms and tried to weigh into a dispute with the Holy See, top diplomats at the Vatican said the Pope was not willing to meet the American diplomat.
The Reuters report added that two of the Vatican’s top diplomats -- Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Foreign Minister Archbishop Paul Gallagher -- confirmed the same saying the Pope doesn’t want to meet politicians ahead of elections.
Holy See officials do not see the agreement with China as something perfect, but they also feel that it is a step forward for the Chinese Catholics who recognize the Pope as they were driven underground for a long time. The two Vatican diplomats were surprised that Pompeo came up with such a criticism publicly ahead of his scheduled visit to Rome.
“Normally when you’re preparing these visits between high-level officials, you negotiate the agenda for what you are going to talk about privately, confidentially. It’s one of the rules of diplomacy,” Gallagher was quoted as saying. When Parolin was asked whether his American counterpart’s criticism of the deal was aimed at scoring a political point in the US, he said: “Some have interpreted it this way ... that the comments were above all for domestic political use. I don’t have proof of this but certainly this is one way of looking at it.”
He also said that the Vatican’s deal with China has nothing to do with American politics and is restricted to the Churches and their dealings.
When Pompeo was asked at a briefing about whether he chose to pick a fight with the Vatican and what impact that could leave on the Catholic and Christian voters in the US, the former said: “That’s just crazy”.