Pope Francis has begun his Apostolic Visit to Kazakhstan, with interreligious dialogue at the forefront of the trip. The Pope is attending the seventh Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions and will close the two-day Congress on Wednesday. But perhaps less should be made of the visit itself than a potential meeting with leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Xi Jinping, who is also present in the Central Asian state.
At the moment, a meeting between the two leaders looks unlikely but that doesn’t mean the Faustian Pact will not continue. The Pope – who hopes the 2018 deal between the Vatican and the CCP, once renewed in 2020, will be renewed once more – has now said he is willing to go to China at any time. As first reported by Reuters, when asked if he might meet Xi in Kazakhstan, the Pope said he didn’t “have any news about that”. Asked if he was ready to go to China, Francis responded: “I am always ready to go to China”.
