The Vatican accused Beijing of breaching its agreement by ordaining a bishop for a Chinese diocese not approved by the Vatican. Beijing’s action surprised few because many people, including the Catholics in China and Hong Kong, had warned Pope Francis not to forge this ill-advised agreement with Beijing in the first place. Yet Francis refused to listen. Will he now have the grace to apologize to Catholics in China?
The Chinese Communist Party severed China’s diplomatic relations with the Vatican in 1949, and Catholics in China, like all other religious believers, suffered more than three decades of persecution. The CCP shut down churches
