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Pope Francis has refused to see Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is asking for a Vatican line on China. The Holy See said that an assembly just before the US election would be inappropriate.
By Jason Horowitz and Lara Jakes
ROME – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently issued a strong letter exaccrating the Vatican’s plans to renew an agreement with the Chinese government on church operations in China. He promoted the article in a tweet, concluding: “The Vatican is jeopardizing its authority if it renews the agreement. “
An outraged Vatican saw the article more as a calculated affront than as a diplomatic gesture. The frictions erupted on Wednesday when Pompeo arrived in Rome and met with prelates and others hostile to Pope Francis, while the Vatican denied him an assembly with the pontiff and rejected his efforts to derail the agreement with China.
“Pompeo asked to meet” with the Pope, who refused because Francis had “clearly said that he gained political figures before the elections,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who, as secretary of state, is the current Vatican official, told the press.
But for some observers on any aspect of tensions between the Roman Catholic Church and the Trump administration, Trump. Pompeo’s visit has to do with both the upcoming pre-inspection elections and Chinese politics. intentionally or not, and his vacation indicates that Preaspectnt Trump is in the aspect of conservative American Catholics who are involved in leadership of the church under Francis and he is lenient with China.
Francis and Trump, who have exchanged harsh words in the past, offer radically different views of problems ranging from the surrounding area to immigration and the risk of populism, asking the Vatican for a devout freedom as an explanation for why to renounce its agreement with China. Pompeo gave the impression of seeking non-unusual ground, but in a way that disappointed the Pope’s key allies and greatly pleased his main critics.
Cardinal Parolin said that Pompeo’s article had provoked a “surprise” at the Vatican, as the secretariat in Rome and meetings with senior officials of the Holy See had already begun and would have been a “more timely” forum for explicitly. He added that Pompeo’s selection to publish in First Things, a conservative Christian magazine that called Francis a failure as Pope, also mattered.
“We know that interpretation comes not only from the text, but also from the context,” he said. “The place,” he added, “already says something about the intention of those who wrote this article. “
Pompeo refused to listen to the statements of Cardinal Parolin, who will meet at the Vatican on Thursday.
For decades, the Chinese communist government operated on a Catholic Church that controlled, insisting that Beijing, the Vatican, had the strength to appoint bishops, while persecuting priests and parishioners who responded to the Holy Seat. As a component of a 2018 agreement, China identified some papal authority and the Church accepted the legitimacy of Beijing’s selected bishops, an embarrassing retreat, according to Francis’ critics.
It is this agreement that both sides seek to renew, and Cardinal Parolin said that the delicate negotiations on the long-term appointment of bishops will “continue. “
Pompeo, who constantly announces devout freedom and verbally criticizes Chinese leaders, met Wednesday afternoon with reporters to announce the Vatican’s ethical authority over China and said that U. S. policy “gets all actors who can gain advantages from other Chinese to eliminate the horrors of authoritarian rule. “
He hesitated to use devoted funds for political messages. He addressed the Republican National Convention in Jerusalem, speaking against China with sacred places on his shoulder. Earlier this month, at a mega Baptist church in Plano, Texas, he described China. abuses of Uighur Muslims as “a war on faith,” and then suggested the congregation vote on November 3.
Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican’s foreign minister, asked if Pompeo had tried to manipulate the Vatican for political purposes: “Well, that’s one of the reasons the Holy Father doesn’t get the secretary of state,” he said.
Cardinal Parolin stated that he had no evidence that the article and the scale in Mr. Pompeo were intended to re-select the president, “but it is an idea that can be made. “
Pompeo at least discovered a welcome among critics of Pope Francis who attended an occasion on freedom organized by Callista Gingrich, america’s ambassador to the Vatican. Upon his arrival, Pompeo patted Cardinal Raymond Burke, a conservative opposition leader to Francis within the ecclesiastical hierarchy, on his shoulder.
The secretary had warm words for Ms. Gingrich. Her husband, Newt Gingrich, a former Republican President of the House, sat in the front row while Pompeo opposed China’s record of freedom.
Trump won the white Catholic vote in 2016, according to the Pew Research Center, however, a poll this summer seems to show that his is waning, and Joe Biden, himself a Catholic, has appealed to CatholicArray.
Pompeo rejected the concept that his pressure on the Vatican was intended to motivate the electorate before the presidential election.
“It’s crazy,” Pompeo said, “We’ve been defending human rights in China the whole time I’ve been in this administration. “
But even some members of his audience saw political intent, while others expected a political outcome.
Thomas Williams, head of Breitbart’s workplace in Rome and a constant critic of Francis who attended the event, argued that there was a transparent electoral angle on the nominally diplomatic journey and said that although he had the idea, Pompeo hoped to replace the Vatican’s position on China, any political merit in his country was “a welcome and I am sure he was looking for a look effect. “
Cardinal Burke, who ruled by giving John Kerry communion in the 2004 presidential campaign, said he believed the American electorate was “increasingly concerned” about the problems raised through Pompeo. With regard to China, he said, “I know, I know that. “
Gingrich said Pompeo’s article in First Things harvested and “probably” motivated the Catholic electorate who read it to vote for President Trump. “The reaction to your editorial the other day was very strong. “
Gingrich, who switched to Catholicism after his third marriage, is co-chair of Catholics for Trump. The organization attacked Biden for his ties to China and supports Carlo Maria Vigano, the former Vatican ambassador to Washington, who accused the Pope of abusers of protective children and demanded that he resign.
Outside the circle of Trump supporters and War games of Francis, the vision of Trump Pompeo’s actions more forceful.
“It is a call to an electorate larger than the Catholic vote, it is also the gospel vote,” said Massimo Faggioli, professor of theology and devoted studies at the University of Villanova, who supports Francis. “Being antipapa helps Catholics but also evangelicals. “
Most likely few will read Mr. First Things Pompeo, he said, but his message about China and the Church will get a broad policy in the right-wing media like Fox News, adding in particular to Catholic media like EWTN, an Alabama-based broadcaster.
Alberto Melloni, director of the John XXIII Foundation for Religious Sciences in Bologna, Italy, described Pompeo “from a divisional operation aimed at the American electorate and the Holy See”.
Using Pope Francis’ call before his election, he said, “The message is: “We include a traditional, conservative and anti-Bergoglio faith and that is why you vote for us,” he said, referring to the Pope’s revocation.
Gaia Pianigiani contributed to the report.
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