Vatican 'foreign minister' admits problems with China accord (CNA)

The Vatican’s top foreign-affairs officials has acknowledged that a secret deal with Beijing was “not the best deal possible,” but confirmed that the Holy See is “committed to carrying forward that dialogue.”

Archbishop Paul Gallagher, in an interview with EWTN, said that Vatican representatives are now “negotiating improvements” to the accord, which was originally signed in 2018 and has twice been renewed for 5-year periods.

The original agreement was the result of years of negotiations, the archbishop said, and reflected the fact that Chinese officials “were only prepared to go so far and to agree to certain things.”

He said: “It wasn’t really a great time to sign the deal, for various reasons. It was always going to be difficult; it was always going to be used by the Chinese party to bring greater pressure on the Catholic community, particularly on the so-called underground Church.”