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

News Snapshot:

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...