This meeting was not the first between King Abdullah II and representatives of the Holy See. Photo: Vatican Media

China and Vatican: positive signals, but there is a silence that weighs on us

The three recent appointments of bishops indicate a willingness not to break. But the Agreement with the Vatican is never even mentioned by the People’s Republic of China. While a «five-year plan» for Catholics has just come into force that cites Xi Jinping instead of the pope and invokes a «theological foundation» to a Sinicization that in fact remains only an adaptation to Party policy.