Speculation is growing that the leader of the Catholic Church could meet the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Kazakhstan next week. Xi Jinping will be in the country’s capital on the same day as Pope Francis, who is traveling to the Central Asian state for an interfaith summit, where it was speculated he would meet the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, a meeting now not going to take place.
It is not yet known whether Xi will attend the interfaith meeting. If he does, it could be the first meeting between a pope and a Chinese leader since the CCP took control in 1949. It would also come after Taiwan honoured John Paul I, with Taipei having sent an envoy to attend the beatification ceremony as a sign of the bond between Taiwan and the Holy See (Vatican City State remains the only European country to recognise Taiwan as independent).
