Beijing, China, Feb 19, 2020 / 10:00 am
Chinese state media have reported that Pope Francis initiated last week's high-level meeting between officials from the Holy See and China.
On Feb. 14, the Vatican's secretary for relations with states, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, met with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference-the first meeting between foreign ministers of the two states, according to the state-run media Xinhua.
The two diplomats reportedly discussed the 2018 Vatican-China agreement on the ordination of bishops. Although the text of the agreement was not made public, it reportedly allows for the Communist regime to vet candidates for bishop before the Vatican makes appointments in the country. The provisional agreement will expire in August.
On Monday, the South China Morning Post, a news outlet sympathetic to the Chinese government, reported that, according to "sources," Pope Francis had initiated the high-level meeting in Munich.