Beijing & Vatican: a short history of religion and Catholicism in China

Pope Leo XIV has asked for prayers for China's Catholics to be in communion with the Holy See, wading into a prickly foreign policy issue between Beijing and the Vatican. On May 25, a couple of weeks into his papacy, the pontiff said: "In the churches and shrines in China and throughout the world, prayers have been raised to God as a sign of the solicitude and affection for Chinese Catholics and their communion with the universal church." He was referring to the special feast day of May 24, which was initiated for China's Catholics in 2007 by Pope Benedict…