The “friendly” commission presided over by Cardinal Parolin is doing well, he said.
“They are doing a fine job. Relations are like this, let’s say that they are underway. And I have great respect for the Chinese people.”
The pope’s comments on the papal plane give a glimpse into what could be in the Holy See’s confidential provisional agreement with Beijing on the appointment of bishops, the contents of which have not been made public since it was first signed in September 2018.
Prior to this, the Vatican Secretary of State had only disclosed that the provisional agreement had to do with “consensual decisions” on the appointment of Chinese bishops and that China had violated the agreement by unilaterally appointing Catholic bishops in Shanghai and the “diocese of Jiangxi,” a large diocese created by the Chinese government that is not recognized by the Vatican.
Pope Francis also told the journalists that the Vatican and China have engaged in foreign exchanges with Catholic priests and intellectuals teaching at a university in China, describing this as an example of “openness” on the part of the Chinese.
The Vatican’s diplomatic relationship with China was a topic of focus during the pope’s four-day trip to Mongolia, which shares a nearly 3,000-mile border with China.
Chinese Catholics, including self-described “underground Catholics,” attended the first-ever papal Mass in Mongolia and other events with some choosing to shield their identities using facemasks and sunglasses at the official welcome ceremony for fear of potential retribution from the government. Others enthusiastically waved Chinese flags at papal events when Pope Francis passed by.
During the 40-minute in-flight press conference, Pope Francis was asked about the upcoming Synod on Synodality, the update to his environmental encyclical Laudato si’, and further clarified his recent comments on Russian imperialism.
The pope also responded to a question about the possibility of a papal trip to Vietnam, saying that he was “very positive about relations with Vietnam,” despite the problems in the past in the Holy See’s “slow” dialogue with the country’s socialist government, adding that he thinks that any future problems can be overcome.
Pope Francis joked: “If I do not go [to Vietnam], I’m sure that [a future Pope] John XXIV will go!”