As readers of this esteemed publication would be aware, in 2018, the Vatican signed a provisional agreement with the Chinese Communist Party on the appointment of Catholic bishops. In doing so, the Vatican recognised the Chinese ‘Patriotic Church’, set up and controlled by the CCP.

Indeed, the late Cardinal Pell, in the ‘Demos’ document attributed to him, stated that under the 2018 secret Vatican-China pact, there had been ‘no public support for the loyal Catholics in China who have been intermittently persecuted for their loyalty to the Papacy for more than 70 years’.