British Conservative Party warns Vatican reestablishing diplomatic relations with China

Although there have been no official relations between China and the Holy See since 1951, the relationship between Beijing and Vatican City have been improving since 2018 when the Pope was once again given permission to appoint and veto bishops approved by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP.)

But Benedict Rogers, co-founder and deputy chairman of the British Conservative Party's human rights commission, warned on Sunday that the Vatican might be taking steps to formally establish diplomatic relations with Beijing – a move he said would be “totally unacceptable.”

Rogers took to Twitter on Sunday to sound the alarm, cautioning that the Vatican could be on “the brink of establishing diplomatic relations” with the CCP, which has ruled China since 1949.

“It would be totally unacceptable and outrageous if that was so,” he tweeted.

“Catholics must speak out with one voice around the world to stop this.”

He appealed to Pope Francis to replace the officials in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and “to reassure us that the Vatican will retain diplomatic relations with Taiwan and not establish relations with [the] CCP.”

The basis of Rogers’ concern is based primarily on moves made by the Vatican that point towards the reestablishment of diplomatic relations -- including the transfer of officials from posts in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

To be exact, Rogers pointed to the Vatican’s decision to transfer Msgr. Arnaldo Catalan, the chargé d’affaires since 2019, from Taipei to Rwanda – effectively leaving Taiwan’s apostolic nunciature without high-level diplomatic representation.

Similarly, Pope Francis on Feb. 5 named Msgr. Javier Herrera Corona, head of the Holy See Study Mission in Hong Kong, as the new apostolic nuncio in the Republic of the Congo and Gabon – once again leaving a diplomatic void in China’s besieged special administrative region.

For this reason, Rogers appealed to Pope Francis to replace the officials in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and asked the pontiff “to reassure us that the Vatican will retain diplomatic relations with Taiwan and not establish relations with [the] CCP.”

Although the Vatican has not yet responded to Rogers’ concerns, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin previously stated that the provisional agreement on the appointment of Catholic bishops signed in 2018 was “only a starting point” for better relations between the two states and that “the road to full normalization will still be a long one.”

Similarly, Parolin told journalists in 2020 that “for the moment there is no talk of diplomatic relations” with China.