A senior US congressman and a prominent human rights advocate have renewed criticism of the Vatican for hosting one of China’s top transplant officials at a 2017 conference on organ trafficking, arguing that the Holy See should now take a clearer public stand against Beijing’s alleged forced organ harvesting. The criticism came at a Hudson Institute event in Washington on 9 April focused on new evidence concerning organ harvesting in China.
Rep. Chris Smith, a Republican congressman from New Jersey, said the Vatican had erred in giving a platform to Huang Jiefu, a leading Chinese transplant official, at the 2017 Summit on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism organised by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Smith said that if the Vatican invites people involved in grave wrongdoing, it risks legitimising them by association.
