Pope Francis has made a bad deal with the Chinese government. The agreement reached with mainland authorities is not helping Catholics and other Christians as much as even its architects’ attenuated hopes warranted. It has hamstrung the Church and muted her moral witness at a crucial time.
By Christopher R. Altieri for The Editors
Ever since September of 2018, when the Holy See announced its provisional agreement with the Chinese government on the appointment of bishops, critics of the arrangement have been vocal. Some of them have been strident – and many of those criticisms have been misplaced, or have arisen from a misapprehension of the Vatican’s purposes in reaching the accord. That does not make the deal any better than it is, but it does suggest that the business requires some readjustment of focus.
