The signing ceremony, held at the Office of the Prime Minister in Prague, was led by Cardinal Pietro Parolin Photo: Vatican Media

Vatican’s dialogue with China and Pope Francis’ realism

In the last six years, also marked by a period of rare contact in relations between the parties during the pandemic, nine new Catholic bishops have been ordained in China. In the same period, eight so-called «non-official» bishops, ordained in the past outside the procedures imposed by the Chinese apparatus, have asked for and obtained public recognition of their function also from the political authorities in Beijing