WASHINGTON, D.C. – Tuesday, U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, criticized the Vatican for extending a deal that allowed Communist China to appoint Roman Catholic bishops. Ricketts made the following comments:
“Right now, our adversaries are hard at work to expand their influence in every region,” said Ricketts. “The Holy See is no exception. In 2018, the Vatican signed a provisional agreement to accept bishops appointed by Communist China, not the Vatican. Pope Francis has categorized the Vatican-China deal is ‘diplomacy in the art of what’s possible.’ I categorize this as being very dangerous. It sets a precedent for future relations with an adversarial nation.”
“Xi Jinping has given the green light to construct state-approved, state-controlled Catholic churches,” continued Ricketts. “This has severe implications for Catholics globally. Additionally, I fear this encouraged Communist China in its persecution of religious minorities and provides moral legitimacy, moral legitimacy for a repressive regime. In October, the Vatican just extended that agreement for the third time for four more years, defying requests from the first Trump administration to end that agreement.”
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Ricketts made the comments in a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The hearing considered the nominations of Brian Burch to be U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, Nicole McGraw to be U.S. Ambassador to Croatia, and Brandon Judd to be U.S. Ambassador to Chile.
